What Seemed Like a Good Idea
by Sanadachi
Summary: Karkat is a dedicated student who is constantly pressured into getting good grades. When he meets Sollux, he learns that it's better to be dedicated to your friends, and that having them with you will help you in many situations. All characters are human.
1. The Beginning of Something Interesting

Hi everyone! This is my first Homestuck fic, and I hope you enjoy it! I hope the beginning isn't too boring and straightforward for you guys...

Oh, and **this contains reference to DRUGS AND DRUG USE.**

/Goes to bed because it's 4:45 am~

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><p>Karkat seriously hated school.<p>

He absolutely.

_Dreaded _it.

But the thing he hated most about that wretched, godawful asylum of a building was its inhabitants. You had kids that ranged from Patrick Star to fucking Einstein intelligence-wise. There were boys who thought they were Malcom X and girls who look like those creepy Japanese ball-jointed dolls. Some even looked like Barbies. Either way it was utterly fucking repulsive.

How Karkat survived, even he himself had no clue.

These are the thoughts that ran through his mind as he walked thorough the front doors of his school. He went up a flight of stairs to reach his locker, which was one of the first one in that wing. When he turned the corner, a quite familiar, very tall figure stood directly in front of his locker. Karkat pretended his best friend wasn't there, and reached around to try at his locker combo.

That didn't work.

So Karkat had to acknowledge the existence of his chum, and looked up at Gamzee Makara, annoyance clearly showing on his scrunched up face. Gamzee was the first to speak,

"Morning Karcrab! How's it going, best friend?" Gamzee smiled in his dopey, lethargic way that made irritated Karkat a lot, but also made him comfortable. He was in familiar territory, talking to his friend before school actually started.

To display what he was feeling, Karkat rolled his eyes and grunted.

Gamzee shrugged and smiled a bit wider. "You're always so motherfuckin' crabby, bro. Jesus says-"

Karkat merely cut him off. "Fuck! Just, no. Fucking stop it with the Jesus sayings! I swear, I've heard every single word that has ever rolled off of Jesus's tongue because of you!"

Yes, Gamzee was extremely religious, which would surprise many.

Gamzee is a good person. He has a way of making anyone feel better when they need it, or can be used as a punching bad when they _really _needed it. However, others didn't think so, because Gamzee was a drug addict. A fucking _huge _one. He's also was juggalo, which may or may not strike the common American citizen as intimidating. Because of his strange "practices", the poor guy had been through a lot.

Gamzee was kicked out of his home in 9th grade. His parents were done tolerating his "strange cult bullshit", so they made him pack his bags and move in with his grandparents. They made a makeshift bedroom for him in their basement, so basically,Gamzee could do whatever he wanted in there. His grandparents didn't recognize the peculiar smell of drugs for some reason, so he could smoke and sniff all he wanted down there.

In addition to his drug problem, Gamzee was a sucker for obscure clown rap. Naturally, his favorite group was Insane Clown Posse, the gods of the juggalos. The school didn't allow that kind of makeup, so Gamzee practically put the stuff on the second he got out of school, and wore it every moment he wasn't there. He felt naked and exposed without his makeup. Even Karkat was more comfortable when Gamzee wore his makeup. It just wasn't him when he didn't have white and gray paste smeared all over his face.

Gamzee also took great pride in his religion. He was a hardcore Christian. _Extremely _hardcore. Like, the kind of person who would pray for hours straight if they missed a service, even if they were near death. He always found a way to slip a Biblical reference into all of his responses and answers in class, including math.

Strange, yes?

Actually, Gamzee's strange interests would make him an ideal target for torment and bullying. You know, if he wasn't so fucking... frightening. That was the word.

F. R. Ightening.

First of all, Gamzee was really tall. Like, 6' 1" and _still growing._ He slouched too, so he was probably even taller. Karkat was 5' 3" and had stopped growing in 8th grade. Huge height difference. Gamzee also had the hair of a madman. It was a bit of an extreme description, but it was almost the truth. His thick, black, oily hair went all over the place, and stuck out in the strangest ways. He didn't even use hairspray. "It's just gravity workin' it's fucking magic, man."

Also, there was something about Gamzee's constant facial expression that could send chills down a kid's spine. The guy could suffocate somebody to death and still keep that same expression on his face. Not that he would.

Despite all that, Gamzee was a really good friend, and a nice person.

Karkat sighed, yawned, and rubbed the inner corners of his eyes. Gamzee rubbed Karkat's dark brunette hair, only to have his arms mercilessly swatted away.

"Move from in front of my locker, polka dots." Gamzee looked down at the black-with-gray polka-dots pajama pants he wore to school every day, put his arms up as if being accused of a crime, and shuffled to the right. Karkat opened his locker and shoved all of his stuff into it. He had an art class first period, so he didn't need anything but a pencil. Or the entire pencil case. So he took that and shut his locker.

Gamzee spoke up, "Hey, man, I'm gonna go ahead and get my leave on, that okay with you?"

"Okay, I'll see you in English, then."

"Alright." And with that, the juggalo spun on his heels and streaked off to class.

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><p>Karkat really didn't know why he took any art classes. He wasn't much of an artist, but it was one of the few classes where he didn't feel like he was being bombarded with study guides and essays. His mind could just... Float here, without the risk of things getting too dangerous.<p>

Karkat really took school seriously, to the point where it messed with his social life. He felt really bad for his friends, but like his mother says, school is always-

"Yo."

He looked up as his friend Dave Strider came to sit across from him.

His red and white long-sleeved shirt with the weird scratched record clung to his skinny frame, and his dark wash skinny jeans hugged his legs snugly. The boy's golden blonde hair swiftly swept across his forehead, the very tips hidden by his dark, round sunglasses. He set down his backpack and plopped down in his seat, waiting for Karkat to start their conversation. They did this nearly every day.

"Well, if it isn't the hugest most ignorant poser on the planet," Karkat began.

"Well if it isn't the guy who's balls are made of chili peppers and sandpaper." Dave rested his head on his left hand and smirked. "What'cha been up to, hothead?"

"I feel like I'm drowning in schoolwork, and it's driving me fucking crazy! You _know _how much I wanted to go to the movies with the jugga-lump last week, my God!" Karkat vigorously tapped his fingers on the table's colorfully stained surface.

Dave sighed. "Did you hear the latest about _those _two?" He asked. The two weren't actually in the room, but everybody in the 11th grade referred to them as so.

Karkat looked at Dave. "Ampora and Peixes?" He snorted audibly, making a few heads turn in his direction. "No, what happened this time?"

Eridan Ampora and Feferi Peixes were the most famous ex-couple in the school. It wasn't a big deal when they broke up, but the big deal was that Eridan went _nuts. _He basically annoyed her to the point that she requested changes in her classes. Now they bicker in the hallways every single day. They argued so much that the teachers stopped caring and tuned it out along with every other student in the school.

To be honest, Karkat thought that they had had a lot of potential when they were together. They were fucking _perfect, _and probably could have been prom king and queen. But now that they were the most annoying duo in the entire fucking school- scratch that- _universe,_ everyone but Eridan knew that all hope was lost.

Dave coughed a bit before he started. "So basically, Feferi was dating this guy, right? His name was Sul, I think. That's what Eridan called him, anyway." He stopped to see if Karkat was listening.

"So basically, Eridan was literally threatening to kill this guy if he tried anything on his girl, and the guy just kept flipping him off as if it was no big deal, and Eri-dick was fuckin' raging at him, okay?"

Karkat nodded slowly. Who the Hell was Sul? Was he new to the school?

Dave went on, licking his lips a bit. "Okay, so Sul couldn't put up with that stupid hipster's bullshit, and decided to dump Feferi. Well soon enough, Eri-dipshit found out, and Sul hasn't shown up since. Classic, huh?"

"He's probably tracking him down on the Internet. Eridan would probably fucking spam his email with messages like, 'I'm gonna cull you with my Harry Potter wand. My magic fuckin' wand is gonna get shoved up an ass tomorrow, so your butthole had better be ready!'" Karkat crossed his arms. "He's such a stupid asswipe, I fucking swear."

"I hear ya, bro."

At this moment, the teacher walked into the class, so Dave and Karkat continued the remainder of the period in silence. They would have talked more if Dave hadn't gone to sleep. At the end, Dave stood, yawned, and stretched.

"Yo, you going to play that game with me tonight? I'm always signed in. We can do some sweet girly gossiping." Dave wiggled his eyebrows and smirked.

Karkat shrugged. "I'll try," His response made Dave frown visibly. So he nodded, picked up his backpack, and left to go sleep in another class. So Karkat sighed and went out the door to go back to his locker.

That was exactly what he meant. Karkat's parents put so much pressure on him so that he'd do well in school, but he barely had time to spend with his friends. Every day he let them down by telling them that he was busy and didn't have time to mess around. Every week brought around new tests and projects for him to study for. Sometimes, he felt like his brain was going to pour right out of his ears, like a mummy in ancient Egypt. It. Was. Fucking. Terrible. If he didn't study and do his best, his parents took away his computer, which was pretty similar to ripping his heart out of his chest for Karkat. The computer was one of his outlets for-

Karkat heard a scream and a brief but heavy _thud!_

He snapped back into reality and saw a stange, pale looking guy lying on the floor in front of a set of lockers.

Standing in front of him was none other than Eridan.

Motherfucking.

Ampora.


	2. The Hipster Who Shoved Me

OH GOD THIS TITLE IS SO CORNY HAHAHAHA.

Well anyway, here's the next chapter! I hope you like it! I know that I have long descriptions for the characters, but I have to say, coming up with the personalities and appearances was too much fun. I also had trouble with Eridan's accent, but I hope it doesn't bother you too much.

Voici le Chapter 2. You can all just poop on my French.

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><p>"Just wwho the <em>fuck<em> do you think you are?" Eridan's strange stammer-like accent was clearly audible as he bellowed his rage into the the face of the kid, who was now standing. He posture said that he didn't care, but his face... Oh.

The kid wore fucking _3D glasses._

Eridan paused for a moment, waiting for the weird kid to respond. He did not utter as much as a single "ouch".

"You must be one sick fuck, to go an' treat Fef's delicate heart like _shit _an' act like it's her fault! That girl is a fuckin' _princess, _an' if you think you can just go an'-"

"Thtop it." Christ. The kid had a lisp. "I never thaid it wath Feferi'th fault."

Eridan crossed his arms.

"Then wwho's fault wwas it, Sol?" He snarled, his eyes narrowing underneath his fake hipster glasses.

"If you _really _want to know, the reathon I broke up with Feferi ith becauth I couldn't thtand having you withpering death threatth into my ear ever time I you thaw uth together." His voice was calm but his teeth showed as he spoke, betraying his anger and disgust.

Eridan coughed in the slightly shorter (Okay, so they were both a lot taller than Karkat, but...) kid's face and put his arms down. Then, he raised them again, delivering a punch-shove to both the kid's shoulders. He slammed against the lockers yet again, his mouth partly open with surprise. Not a single passerby acknowledged the strife. However, Karkat was not a passerby.

He was a witness.

So the bed-headed brunette strode over to Eridan and shouted,

"Hey, fucking hipster! Lay off him, you purple-haired fish-face bastard! I swear if you don't take a step back, your pasty face will be impaled by the agonizingly intense impact of my red-hot syllables. My fucking words will fucking shoot into the inner mechanisms of your auditory organs and reach your gray, barely-pulsing excuse for a brain, and melt every last insult into your long term memory hole. You'll be forced to rapidly post your hipster angst onto your stupid shitting hipster blog for hipsters, and all your hipster brothers and sisters will kick you out of the hipster universe and you float around forever until the soul-sucking void of apology pulls you into it's icy, loving grasp."

Eridan sniffed and adjusted his scarf as if he were uncomfortable.

"Do you evven knoww wwhat happened, Kar?" He scoffed, his face scrunched into a disgusted expression. "I bet I you don't evven knoww wwho the Hell he is," Eridan added, thrusting his thumb in his victim's direction. "You probably don't evven knoww wwhy I'm upset."

Mentally, Karkat nearly laughed. Instead, he snarled,

"Of course I know what this flying fucking balderdash is all about, you shitbrained wand-fucker." He turned and faced the boy with the lisp. "Are you okay?"

The boy merely shrugged. "I should be fine," He lisped. "Just a few bruises, is all. They guy's punches actually feel more like getting hit with a shitty antique pillow, you know?" He smiled a shit-eating grin, flashing an array of shiny white teeth. He adjusted his glasses. Karkat noticed that they were not exactly 3D glasses, but regular, rectangular black-rimmed glasses. You know. With a red lens and a blue lens.

Eridan seemed to remember that he was part of this as well.

"Look, I don't wwant any of you dingy little holes evven comin' _near _Fef, got it? An' of I evven see you starOOOUGH!" A strong, tanned hand wrenched at Eridan's already pink ear. It clearly belonged to Feferi.

Feferi was basically the princess of the school. Ever since she had moved from Florida in the 3rd grade, she had been an idol to all of the girls in the school. All of them had wanted to be like her, but none of them could do it. Feferi was just too _flawless._ She was the star of the national girl's swim team, and had a picture perfect body that most girls only dream of having. Benefits of being way into sports. She was also exceedingly beautiful, with her copper skin and thick, ankle-length brown hair. She wore a golden tiara-like band just above her hairline, and it really brought out her light brown eyes, adding flecks of gold to them. She had a piercing on the left side of her nose, and the ring had a different sea creature nearly every day.

Her grades were excellent, but her specialties were marine biology and oceanography. You could ask her any questing about the sea, and she would answer without hesitating. And not to mention that the girl was the fucking student council president, so she was practically _owned _all of the students. Fereri was a bit childish and very perky and enthusiastic about things. As an energetic individual, her signature move is to immediately shoot her hand up after a teacher asks a question, even when she didn't know the answer.

It was crazy how incredibly amazing this girl was.

And she ended up with Eridan Ampora.

What a nookfucking hoot.

"Fef! Let go a my _ear!_" Whined Eridan, his ear changing from a pulsating pink to an angry shade of red. "You're hurtin' me, Fef!"

Feferi only smiled and held on, making Eridan's face scrunch harder. "Not until you apologize to these two!" She bubbled in a light, sugary southern accent.

"_Fef..._" Eridan groaned, "I wwas only tryin' to defend you!" His facial expression went from pained to angsty. "Really..."

Now Feferi's face turned to stone. "I don't need you to defend me, Eridan." Her eyes narrowed. "We're through."

Sure didn't look like it.

Eridan heaved a great sigh. "Let go a my ear," He demanded, and Feferi let go.

"I'm sorry for hurtin' you, Sol." He took a side glance at his ex, who shot him a look that clearly meant he wasn't finished. So he added, "An' I promise it wwon't happen again..."

Satisfied, Feferi nodded, smiled, and sang, "Bye guys!" She bounced off, leaving a trail of fruity scented perfume floating in the air. Eridan glared directly into Sollux's glasses, and hissed, "This isn't ovver yet, Sol." He he almost ran away to head to his next class.

Eridumbfuck.

Sollux sighed, clearly relieved. "What's that guy's deal anyway? It's not like I screamed at her, I just let her down easy..." Karkat suspected that Sol was talking to himself, but interrupted nonetheless.

"Anyway, just... Who are you?" He asked, anxious to know more about this strange boy with the lisp and asymmetrical glasses.

"Sollux Captor..." He was clearly still thinking about something, so Karkat took the time to look Sollux over.

His hair was neat and... _Anime._

Literally. His hair was mainly black, but his bangs were an ugly mustard yellow that almost hurt to stare at. His haircut was short, but the sides of his bangs were long and framed the majority of his face. Sollux was taller than Karkat, but shorter than Eridan, who was only about 5' 10". Karkat guessed Sollux was around 5'8".

Sollux was the type who wore sarcastic tees, judging by the _Declare Variables, Not War _printed onto his tight black t-shirt. His baggy gray pants were cuffed at the bottom while his shoes... He wore a mismatching pair of _Vans, _one black with a white sole and the other white with a black sole.

Karkat could conclude that this kid was just good old-fashioned weird. Sollux took notice of Karkat looking him over.

"It seems you have noticed my attire. Got a problem with it?" He eyebrows went down as if he were frowning but his lips were pulled into an unbearably stupid smirk. "And you haven't told me your name either, you loudmouthed prick." Sollux had a very friendly vibe in the way he spoke now.

That was fast. Much too fast for Karkat Vantas, however.

"My name's Karkat Vantas. But don't think that just because I saved your sorry little anime ass from the biggest shitstain in the entire fucking school does _not _mean we're _chill bros who can share an unbelievably disgusting plate of white-hot pasta together under the fancy French moonlight, _got it?" Karkat jeered. He looked at Sollux, who looked annoyed and hurt at the same time. Karkat added, "I'm just not the type who openly accepts anyone as a friend, okay? It's just the way I've always been."

Sollux nodded, and said while rubbing his chin, "I really don't get Eridan's problem. I mean, he's like, obsessed with Feferi or something..." Karkat had to avoid commenting on how funny that sentence sounded with that guy's lisp. He managed to keep it to himself.

"Eridan and Feferi's romance was actually legitimate, actually. The really had passionate feelings for each other." Karkat implied.

Eridan Ampora...

Eridan was actually Karkat's good friend in previous years, but as Feferi became a more relevant part of Eridan's life, the two had grown apart. Now their friendship was long forgotten. Back then, Eridan was a pretty nice guy apart from being judgmental and whiny. Now he was one of the most hated kids in school. Karkat almost hated the guy as much as he hated _himself, _and that was a whole fucking lot.

Eridan liked to hang out with Rose Lalonde to read and discuss her wizard slash fanfiction. He was also amongst the school's hipsters. He was just like one, listening to bands nobody's ever heard of and acting like he knows everything about science. As a matter of fact, he really did know a lot about science. It was his only good class as well as whatever math class he took. Eridan enjoyed kissing the teacher's butts to raise his grades in the other subjects he's enrolled in, and it worked. The teachers absolutely _adored _him, while the kids wanted to push him down a flight of stairs. It actually happend to him quite often, and he always got up with tears in his sea foam green eyes. He was actually really sensitive. One thing he was _extremely _sensitive about was his accent. Other students constantly picked on him for it, and though he acted like it was "nothin'", you could always see the hurt on his face. The only reason Karkat didn't do anything about Eridan's problems was because the guy thought he was better than everyone. When somebody answered a science question wrong, he would cough into his fist and snicker. He also went around telling the kids who wore band t-shirts that the music they listened to was so _mainstream _and that they should search harder for the music that the chose to listen to. _That's _what Karkat really hated about Eridan.

Eridan was also judged because of his "unique hipster wardrobe". Instead of wearing a jacket in the winter, he would wear a strange purple cape. It almost trailed behind Eridan's tall body, yet the tips never touched the ground. He wore scarves year-round, all of them containing the same shade of purple that matched both his cape and his bangs. Sometimes, he wore those hipster shirts that depict space and whatnot in them, clearly done with bleach. Karkat thought it was actually pretty cool. Eridan was very well accessorized for a hetero guy. He wore about 7 (Yes, Karkat actually counted.) gold rings on the fingers of his right hand while his left had only two. He was a lefty after all.

He was actually a really, _really _good looking guy, with his dark brown and purple hair neatly slicked back, and his stuck-up expression nailed to his face. Any stranger could see why Feferi had fallen in love with him in the first place. He was handsome, sensitive, and could actually humor you when you needed it. But he also tended to get attached to his friends so much that they stopped talking to him all of a sudden. Basically, the same thing had happened between him and Feferi, but it was a bit different. It was hard for Eridan to handle because he had really wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, and she just ended it, faster than you could say, "wwhatevver". Karkat didn't really know much more than that.

"Hey, KK?" KK? Oh God, the guy had _completely ignored_ what Karkat had told him just a minute ago.

"I'm going to head home now, since my computer art class is done."

Ah, so Sollux was _that _kind of kid. That must have been why Karkat hadn't heard of him when Dave first mentioned it. So Karkat nodded, and went into his locker to get his stuff.

"See you around?" Sollux lisped, adjusting his glasses a little.

"Maybe," Karkat responded gruffly, yanking his science binder and textbook about of his messy locker and shutting it. "If you decide to come back to school any time this month."

Before Sollux could respond, Karkat ran off to his science class before he was late.

He didn't want to hear any bullshit from John.


	3. The Science Class Shenanigans

OH GOD THE TITLE. I NEED TO STOP.

Anyway, I'm sorry that this took so long, but I'm kind of busy nowadays. I susally type this when I manage to sneak the computer at night.  
>Well, I hope you enjoy chapter 3!<p>

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><p>John Egbert was the average high school dork. He was tall, skinny, got average grades, wore glasses, and didn't say much during class. A kid who didn't know him very well would say that he was modest and quiet and wouldn't harm a fly.<p>

Wrong.

Because John Egbert was an asshole. Indeed he was. In addition to making snarky comments to his friends, he massively enjoyed pranking with a certain Vriska Serket, which really got annoying after a while. However, you never knew what to expect with these kids' pranks. Karkat especially suffered at random times during lacrosse practice, when John would sneak things into his gear, like food with gross, processed cream fillings. It was like stepping in something nice and soft while taking a walk, then looking down to discover animal shit on you shoe.

With a sweet, creamy center.

_Yum._

A lot of John's pranks involved sweets because he didn't eat much. At least Karkat hadn't seen him eat much. In eighth grade, Karkat had actually thought that John was anorexic. He had noticed that John didn't come to school with a lunch, he would just talk and doodle during lunch. One day, Karkat decided to ask why that was so. So he plopped down next to his friend so that the conversation could be kept quiet and asked,

"John. Why don't you ever bring lunch to school? Do you like, have anorexia nervosa or something?" Karkat had been worried that his friend would hesitate in his response, or even worse, say yes, but John only chuckled in response.

"Of course not! Why would I do that to my own body? And I mean _come on._ Dude, I'm not _that _skinny." John smiled his buck-toothed smile, gesturing towards his torso. It was true, John wasn't _extremely _skinny but...

"Then why the fuck don't you eat at lunch, Egboob?" Egboob.

"Okay Karkat. Do you _really _want to know why?" John leaned in close and whispered into Karkat's ear, "_It's because my dad's is a bit out of his mind._" Karkat cocked an eyebrow in response.

John sat up again. "... Well, you see... My dad kind of has a passion for baking. _Cakes. _That's all he ever makes, seven days a week. He gives me a few slices every day for lunch, but I really fucking hate the stuff, you know?" The black-haired boy looked at Karkat, who's brown eyes were narrowed.

"What?" John's blue eyes looked puzzled.

"I don't fucking believe it."

"_What?_"

"You're hiding something. That bullshit story was clearly whipped up from scratch in your half-dead, corrupted mind." Karkat was infuriated that John would do something like that to him.

"Karkat, I'm not making it up. If you don't believe me, I can bring in cake for you every day." Hmmm. _Now _they were talking.

"Fine," Karkat grumbled. "But I swear, if you're lying I'll-"

John cut him off. "Dude, I'll get your fucking cake. I swear, you and your disgusting sweet tooth win the award for 'most sexually active couple of the year'." _What?_

_ "_And here," John handed him a container that was half the size of his school binder. "I hope you like red velvet."

* * *

><p>Karkat stumbled into the classroom, not wanting to be late. He plunked in the seat directly behind John's, out of breath from running up a flight of stairs and down a hallway to get to the class. John passed him back a tiny slip of paper over his shoulder.<p>

h_ey numbnuts. you're late._

Karkat whipped out his pencil and scrawled onto the remaining space,

_LOUSY GODDAMNED 5 FLORRED SCHOOL_

He handed the note back to John, who turned around and rested his arm on the back of his chair.

"So, what's going on?" He smiled a little.

"Nothing much..." Karkat's voice trailed off. "But have you heard of a kid named Sollux, uh, Captor?"

"No," John said, "but whoever that is, he has a cool name!" His deep blue eyes crossed. "Soooollux. Sollllllllux. So_llux._"

"John, stop it."

"I'm sorry." Just then, the science teacher walked into the classroom, a black-lipped smile plastered onto her pretty face. She smiled and stroked her pale, thick, blonde hair and adjusted her magenta scarf.

"Good morning everyone," She sang. "As you already know, we're starting a new unit today!"

Karkat sighed. New unit. New notes. New material to study his brain out for.

"Take out your notebooks, we're going to take notes."

John passed Karkat a note while the teacher wasn't looking.

a_mpwhora's staring at you, dude._

Karkat looked to the right. At the end of the row, Eridan was glaring at him with an intensity greater than a neon green sun.

Karkat gave him one of his signature looks of disgust. Eridan gave him the finger. Karkat gave him two. Eridan ground his teeth in frustration, simultaneously running his fingers through his violet bangs.

"Oops!" The teacher yelped suddenly, making a few kids jerk in their seats. "I forgot my flash drive in the teachers' room! Don't touch anything on my desk!" And with that, she shuffled out of the classroom, her high heels scoffing the tile a bit. The classroom immediately erupted in a rumble of chatter and gross noises. Karkat turned in his seat to face right.

"Quit glaring at me, you puss-brained imbecile!" Karkat said forcibly, slamming a fist onto his desk. "It's really fucking distracting, having your glossy eyes penetrating my layers of baby's-butt soft quality-brand flesh."

Eridan turned to the left and sneered, "I havve evvery right to glare at you, an' you _knoww _it, Kar." He crossed his arms in front of his chest. "At least I don't havve a problem wwith my temper, anywway."

_It's okay,_ _you can keep your fucking cool._

"At least I don't beat up kids in the hallway because they dated my girlfriend whom I can't seem to get over." Karkat jeered. His fingers were wildly tapping the desk in an enraged frenzy. By then, all talking amongst the other students had ceased. They were staring at the two conflicting young men, enjoying the back-and-forth taunts as much as a four-year-old loved coming home on Halloween night. So much candy! Why can't I hold all of this candy?

Eridan looked hurt at what Karkat had said. "It's not that simple!" He snapped defensively. "Anywway, at least I don't go stickin' my nose into other peoples' business!"

"At least I don't make my _own _business _everybody's _business!" Karkat was close to flipping his desk and leaving. He was literally shaking with rage, anger, and pure disgust at his former friend. "Fuck, I don't even know who the Hell you _are _anymore!"

Eridan was stunned. He looked like he had something to say, but immediately trashed it when he saw Karkat's trembling limbs. So instead, _he_ ended up getting up and leaving the classroom, the class's bewildered faces following his slumped figure as it moved out the door.

Then, they turned to face Karkat, who ignored them and whipped out his new romance novel. John turned around, an astonished look on his pasty face.

"What was that all about, Karkat?" He adjusted his glasses as he waited for his friend to say something.

"Nothing, John," Karkat began, folding his book over his right thumb. "Couldn't you see that the little strife was about absolutely _nothing? _That's right! Eridan and I just love to _pretend _to flip our shit about things that don't exist_ but ar__e still fucking here. _Do you have any idea what those may be, Mister Johnathan D for dumbass _Egbert? _It's _nothing! _Absolutely motherfucking _nothing!_" He pretended to go back to reading his book, ignoring John's pout.

"Christ, Karkat, you don't have to be so fucking crabby when you get upset." John turned back around, a little hurt from what Karkat had said to him. Somebody coughed and pretended to do homework for another class. The teacher returned, holding a little flash drive shaped like a martini glass. She looked flustered.

"I'm so sorry, you guys! I was looking everywhere for this little thing and my heels made it hard to go up the stairs, and... Where's Eridan?" She scanned the classroom along with the faces of the students. Nobody looked guilty. Karkat raised his hand.

"He had to go throw up."

* * *

><p>After class, Karkat made a mad dash to keep away from any people who annoy him and get in his way. He thought that his "master plan" had succeeded until he nearly bumped into a wheelchair. And two people. One in a wheelchair and one pushing.<p>

_Oh._

It was Gamzee and his buddy, Tavros. They both smiled at Karkat, who suppressed a sigh.

Tavros, who was unable to use his legs for the rest of his mortal life, was probably Gamzee's best bro, right next to Karkat. Some could say that they were hitting on each other a little, but it was really hard to tell, one, and two, neither of them seemed aware of it.

Tavros was a mixed kid with his hair shaved on both sides of his head, leaving a flowing brown "mohawk" running down the middle of his skull. His hands were folded neatly across his stomach, his Pokemon t-shirt clearly visible. On his lap were his binders, covered with pictures of Peter Pan from every movie, show, or musical that involved him. Under his school binders was his gigantic binder filled with a small amount of his many, _many _Pokemon cards. They meant a lot to him, so he only brought that specific binder to school. They were like a charm to him or something.

Tavros lacked a considerable amount of confidence around a select few, select few meaning Vriska Serket. It had all started in eighth grade, when Tavros decided to ask Vriska out. He had had a humungous crush on her since 6th grade, and Tavros mustering up the courage to ask her on a date was _astounding. _To make an even longer story short, the date hadn't gone too well, and Vriska was in a bad mood. Which was bad. Upsetting Vriska Serket could have more devastating consequences than upsetting _Suzumiya Haruhi, _for God's sake.

He decided that he could cheer her up by asking her to be his girlfriend.

Bad decision, Tav.

Vriska, highly annoyed by the shy boy who had ruined her day, pushed him into the middle of the road as they were walking out of a dirty arcade. Vriska watched as he got to his feet, but at the same time, a car smashed into his rear, literally crushing his lower spine. The driver had been texting.

You Only Walk Once.

The tragic teenage life of Tavros had begun thanks to the wrath of Vriska "Bluh bluh huge bitch" Serket.

"Hi Karkat!" Tavros said, waving a hand while tightly clutching to his binders with the other. "Are you heading to your band class next?"

Karkat looked up to think a bit. Then he answered, "Yes, I am. How about you?"

"Gamzee. Roll me over." Tavros said slyly, a silly, mock-serious expression on his face. When he was close enough, me motioned motioned Karkat to come closer, his eyes shooting from left to right. He whispered,

"Gamzee and I are cutting class to buy the new Pokemon game!"

Before Karkat could give his "you shouldn't skip out on class" speeches, Gamzee had hollered, "Whup! Here we go, Tav!" and they were speeding down the hallway, barely avoiding knocking into other kids headed to their next classes.

"Fuckasses..."

And with that, Karkat began walking down towards the flight of stairs that led to his next class.


	4. A Change of Plans

Here's chapter 4! Umm, I feel like I rushed this a lot, but I hope you're not _too _annoyed by that!

**NOTE: **The poem I used in this is entitled _A une Fleur _by Alfred de Musset. You can find the entire poem here: /de-musset/13_39_

No romancy stuff yet, you guys~ u v u

* * *

><p>Band class consisted of the usual jackassery that most band classes contained. Karkat's friends in band were Dave on the saxophone, Jade Harley on the flute, and <em>Terezi fucking Pyrope <em>on the drums_._ Terezi, as usual, was swooning at Dave as he played his saxophone. The entire class was basically attempting play songs that they could never master, no matter how hard they tried in class. The main reason was because most of the students had "better things to do at home than practice their instruments".

Dave was one of the kids who was actually good. Actually, Dave was _really _fucking good with a saxophone, but he played passively in class. Dave was perfectly loud when he and Karkat practiced together. Sometimes he even played loud enough to drown out Karkat's trumpet, which annoyed the fuck out of him. It was strange how he held back in the classroom when he was practically a DJ. If you call a kid who plays dubstep at pre-teen's birthday parties a DJ.

Jade was absolutely fucking _terrible _on her flute, which was strange since she claimed that she practiced every day. Knowing her, she would probably play for a minute of two, fall asleep, and completely forget about her flute. All of that serious dedication and hard work landed her in last chair.

Terezi Pyrope, one of Karkat's least favorite "friends", was also very bad. She was a percussionist, and one of the main reasons why the band suffered. She couldn't keep a rhythm steady for the life of the entire _universe. _If the teacher could kick her out of the band, he probably would. But since this is America, where _everyone _is fucking sue-happy, she remained in the group, pounding on whatever instrument she was handed by other members of her section.

The four friends walked out of the room together, having a friendly conversation about school lunch.

Jade, John's chubby cousin, was very kind. However, she would never let herself be pushed around by others. If you insulted your appearance, she'd _literally_ insult your recently deceased family member. The girl had guts. Jade had long, back-length black hair and round, Harry Potter styled glasses. She had a long gray skirt that stopped just above her ankles and black Pumas. Her long sleeved white shirt depicted a light blue atom. Jade had a childish face, so it was better to call her cute instead of pretty. She had an overbite, like John did, but it was a bit less noticeable than his. Her eyes were big and bright green with a few flecks of gold in them. She had a subtle Australian accent because of her immigration from a Pacific island at a young age. Some may say she sounded a lot like Vanille from Final Fantasy XIII. Because Jade was a bit flighty and unfocused, she was a very average student except for in science, where her grade was always perfect.

Jade was one of the most well-known girls in the entire area. Her grandfather who had taken care of her, died a mere year after she moved into the States. He had left her an unbelievable sum of cash so that she could live. Because of that, her strange dog, Becquerel, had acted as her guardian until she was a teenager. Her home life was somewhat private, and she didn't invite many of her friends over to her fucking greenhouse-mansion-thing. Though she had money, she still worked so that she wouldn't have to worry about running out. Jade had had an intense passion for gardening since she was a toddler. She grew anything and _everything, _from decorative trees to exotic fruits. Everybody in town bought their greenery from her, not only because they knew that she could use the money, but also because her plants were fucking _amazing. _

Her knowledge on botany and other sciences allowed her to genetically engineer her flowers so that their petals were neon-colored or made strange shapes. Nobody could understand how she did it, but she did, and it made their homes look really cool. So they were fine with it as long as they didn't emit something toxic into the surrounding air. Around Halloween, all of the pumpkins needed in the area were supplied by Miss Harley. They were almost always perfect.

Terezi, on the other hand, was one of the most snobbish, annoying try-hards in the entire school. She was top of the class, and she made sure _everyone _knew that. She rubbed her grades in the faces of all of her classmates, making them envy her. Fuck the seven "deadly" sins. They envied her success and how easy it was for her to get good grades. Even the teachers were annoyed by her outbursts in class. She loved to point out and correct people's mistakes in class, especially Karkat's. Whenever Karkat said something wrong, she would let out an audible cackle that could be compared to the laugh of a witch with a head cold. The girl wanted to be "the nation's top lawyer", protecting people from the cruel wrath of justice. Okay.

Terezi's appearance completely suited her nerdy mindset. She had messy, light-brown hair that ended just above her shoulders. The ends were choppy, while her bangs swept freely across the high part of her forehead. A belt of freckles swept across her nose and cheeks. Terezi had teal braces, which she had had since sixth grade, and she couldn't wait to get the darned things off. She wore a teal short-sleeved shirt with a white, long-sleeved shirt under it. Her shirt had a black ' :] ' printed onto it. She wore black skinny jeans with teal pockets. Boy, did this chick love teal.

Besides the fact that she annoyed pretty much everybody in the entire school, she had a pretty frustrating life at home. She had a mother and a step-father. She loved her step-father a lot, and he loved her too. He owned a book store in the neighboring town, which they had visited often since she was just a kid. He was the one that pushed her to do well in school, praised her work, and rewarded her every time her report card came. However, it was different with her mother. She absolutely despised her mother. For one, she had no job, and was useless. All she did was cook and clean and not give a fuck about Terezi's problems. Every once in a while, her mother would tell her to quiet down or to turn her music down. That was it. During dinner she kind of spaced out, ignoring the conversation going on between her husband and her daughter.

Even though Terezi was annoying and stuck-up, everyone knew about the life-altering problem that she had. The previous winter, Terezi had been diagnosed with cortical cataracts, and it got worse as time passed. She refused to get the surgery because she felt that hospitals were "unsanitary" and "unsafe". She really had a deep fear of hospitals and sharp objects, which is why she was prescribed special red-tinted "vampire" glasses. That's what Dave and Karkat called them, anyway. Sometimes Vriska would call her "Red Glare" just to piss her off.

So basically, Terezi was a tolerably annoying, school-obsessed freak. But to be honest, none of her friends knew what they would do without her.

* * *

><p>"It's not like it's fucking radioactive," Dave said defensively. "It's really good shit, like a greasy coated Egyptian god of flavors dancing it's fatty dance across my tongue."<p>

"I swear Dave, it's a wonder you're not big as a house!" Jade giggled, nudging him in the side.

"Have you even read the fucking ingredients on the boxes of those things?" Terezi stated. "Even _I _can't read half of those ingredients!"

Dave snorted. "Well they obviously don't list the chemicals and ingredients and shit they use in that deep fried guano. One time, I passed the cafeteria and they were bringing in some boxes. They didn't have a label or brand, they just had a giant 'X' on each side. Surprised we aren't the fucking Powerpuff Girls or something." Dave pursed his lips, wiggling his arm like a snake while breathing, _Pchoooooooo._

"Honestly, do you even fucking _try _to make your own stupid lunch, Strider?" Karkat growled. "It's not that hard."

Dave shrugged. "With _my _bro? Forget about it." The four turned down a hallway leading to a staircase. "I'm pretty sure that if I tried to pack something, he'd shove a few daggers in my lunch for good measure. I don't need anybody thinking I'm some kind of homicidal maniac or something." He adjusted his sunglasses, making sure they looked perfect on his face. Who the fuck even wore sunglasses indoors? Dave.

Jade smiled, "I've never met your brother, but he seems," She wiggled her eyebrows. "Reaaaaaally cooooooooool!" She and Terezi giggled a bit.

"You know what, girls?" Dave stopped walking and smirked. "I bet he can hear you, _right now. _Don't forget he's a fucking ninja."

Karkat turned around and shouted,"Come on and hurry the fuck up, Dave. The next class starts in like, three seconds." He then marched off and went up the stairs, to his next class.

* * *

><p>Karkat's French class was like pure fucking hell to him. Why? There were two reasons.<p>

_Un_, his French pronunciation was _horrific._

_ Et deux_, Terezi was there to constantly point it out.

"Karkat, please read the first stanza of this poem out loud." The teacher boomed with his loud voice. Somewhere in the back of the classroom, Karkat heard Terezi's obnoxious giggle-snort.

"Yes sir..." He cleared his throat, held his paper out in front of him, and began to read,

"_Que me veux-tu chère fleurette, Aimable et charmant souvenir? Demi-morte et demi-coquette,  
>Jusqu'à moi qui te fait venir<em>?" The way Karkat pronounced it, it sounded like,

"Kurr mi vurr-tu chair fluret, Amiablur ay sharment souvenir? Demi-mort ay demi cock-ette, J-j-jooskwa mwah qui turr fate verneer?"

Terezi began to crack up like _mad._ The teacher rolled his eyes. Terezi raised her hand. The teacher ignored her at first, but gave in when he realized that her hand wouldn't be lowered without a fight. And he wasn't payed to fight students, and much as this girl needed to have her lips stitched together. Tight.

"You're doing it wrong, Karkles!" She folded her arms across her small bosom and recited in _perfect _French,

"_Que me veux-tu chère fleurette, Aimable et charmant souvenir? Demi-morte et demi-coquette,  
>Jusqu'à moi qui te fait venir?" <em>She smirked, waiting for an applause that would never start.

"Thank you Miss Pyrope." The teacher said, sounding agitated. Terezi got up, did a fake curtsy, and sat back down looking all-too pleased with herself.

The rest of the class consisted of Karkat doodling shitty drawings with his head down while the teacher droned on about French grammar or something.

On the way out of the classroom, Terezi whispered in his ear,

"_J-j-jooskwa,"_

If there hadn't been so many kids around him, Karkat would have flipped his shit then and there.

* * *

><p>The rest of the day went by in a flash, and before he knew it, Karkat was preparing to leave his last class. Dave sat two seats in front of him. As the teacher discussed the homework, Karkat whispered sharply,<p>

"_Strider." _No response.

"_Strider!" _Dave turned, taking an earbud out of his ear. Fucking idiot.

"_What?"_

_ "I want to come over today."_

_ "Okay, whatever."_

_ "I'll just tell Kanaya that-"_

_ "_Hey!" The teacher said sharply, "Pay attention or you won't have a clue on how to do tonight's assignment." Karkat immediately shut up while Dave snickered.

"_I'll see you there." _He put his earbud back in, blocking the front view of them with his hands. Fucking stupid idiot. Karkat smirked a little, covering the upturned side of his mouth with a fist. When they were finally let out of class, Dave went over to Karkat and patted him on the back.

"I'm glad you came through, man."

* * *

><p>Karkat shoved all of his crap into his backpack, eager to get to Kanaya's locker before she came to his. With his bag only half zipped and crammed to the top with his belongings, he began to walk towards the hall leading to where Kanaya's locker was. They nearly bumped into each other only a part way down the hallway.<p>

"Hello, Karkat." Kanaya smiled her dazzling, mature smile.

Kanaya was like an older sister to Karkat. They usually studied together several times a week after school, alternating between their homes.

Kanaya was an African-American girl, a lesbian, and an excellent student. She had very short, stylish black hair that looked like it took a lot to style in the morning. Kanaya was the Indie type, dressing in a different outfit nearly every day. She sewed her own clothing. She was basically the school's sassy fashion guru. She ran a local sewing and knitting club every Sunday. Another thing about Kanaya was that she can sass the ears off of any soul brave enough to question her choice of clothing or sexuality. And boy, did this girl have some nasty things to say about people. She often insulted many of the kids in the school behind their backs, which Karkat found highly entertaining. In a way, Kanaya acted like Karkat's mother-figure. She was mostly in charge of keeping his anger in check. She wasn't very fond of Gamzee because she thought of him as a bad influence, and thus, she clearly displayed her frustration every time he was around.

When Kanaya went to Karkat's house, his parents treated her like a queen, offering snack after snack or a pillow for her to rest her feet on. The Vantas family just really loved Kanaya.

"Hey, Kanaya. I just wanted to say that, well, um, I can't go to your house today. I'm going to Dave's."

"Oh?" Kanaya put her hands on her hips. Her jewelry slipping down from her forearms to her wrists. "What do you intend to do there? Tutor him, I suppose?" She raised an eyebrow.

"I'm going to play fucking video games. I don't know. Hang out with my bro."

Kanaya mockingly put her hands over her gaping mouth, her face looking falsely shocked.

"Karkat Vantas, Mister All Work No Play, going to _have fun at Dave Strider's apartment?" _Her expression returned to normal. "But in all seriousness, won't your parents be upset with you?"

Karkat scowled and crossed his arms. "Go ahead and let 'em be upset. I don't give a fuck. Anyway..." A mischievous smirk spread across his face. "You can take this opportunity to invite a certain _Miss Lalonde _to your place." Kanaya seemed to think about this for a moment. Then she sighed.

"I can try, but I really don't feel like taking any ridiculous drivel from my mother." She looked genuinely upset.

"She'll understand one day, Kanaya."

"I really do hope so..." There was a pause before Kanaya spoke again. "I'll see you tomorrow, Karkat." She smiled a little, her eyes glistening with the tiniest hint of sadness.

"Okay, then Kanaya. Are you going to invite her over?"

"Yes, I think I might,"

"Good luck, then,"

Kanaya walked away, her yellow sundress making it impossible for her to be absorbed by the crowd. Karkat prepared to join Dave on the bus ride to the next city over.


	5. Time Well Spent

This title is somewhat less stupid than the others? /Shrug.  
>Well, anyway, I know this chapter is short, but I kind of wanted a suspense build-up near the end. Nyeh, you probably won't feel anything.<p>

Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter! It's almost 1 am, so I'll be going to bed!

* * *

><p>As Karkat walked out of the school, he rolled up the sleeves of his blood red sweatshirt with the black Nike check in the center. The moment the sun came into contact with his skin, he felt the need to cool himself down a little. He moved his forest green messenger bag to his other shoulder and huffed along to the bus that would bring him to Dave's place. Dave came up behind him.<p>

"Aw man, Karkat, I got this sweet new game, and we could play the fuck out of it and maybe beat it, I don't know. Actually, the game is pretty old and last time I checked," He pointed an accusing finger at his face. "You sucked at video games."

Karkat gave his friend a good slug on the shoulder, spitting out, "Shut the fuck up, Strider."

They both climbed onto the bus and sat on the seats in front of the ones in the back. They each put on their iPods and listened. Dave was obviously listening to his own tracks, judging by the way he smirked while going through his songs. Karkat, on the other hand, listened to his favorite band, _The XX._

Karkat was practically obsessed with _The XX, _and listened to them every day he could, mostly while doing homework, studying, reading, or when he was on the Internet. Which was almost all the time. Of course he had a whole list of bands he enjoyed listening to, but nothing could top _The XX. _Their music was calm, their lyrics were sexy, and-

Some kid shouted at the front of the bus, and Karkat instinctively turned up his music loud enough to block out the outside noises yet leave his precious ears unharmed.

He looked over at Dave, whose gigantic, expensive, noise-canceling headphones covered his ears. Karkat could probably feel the bass vibrate if he touched the side of it, but that would be creepy, and Dave would make sure that he knew that.

Karkat stared out the window and quietly mouthed they lyrics to the song he was listening to,

_Footsteps on the dance floor  
>reminds me baby of you Teardrops in my eyes, next time I'll be true, yeah<br>Whispers in the powder room  
>"She cries on every tune, every tune, every tune"<em>

_And the music don't feel like it did_  
><em>And the music don't feel like it did<em>  
><em>And the music don't feel like it did with you<em>

Dave seemed to notice what his friend was doing, and anxiously looked at Karkat's iPod screen to see what he was listening to. Unsuccessful, he simply asked,

"What'cha listening to, Kar-cutie?" Dave pinched his friend's cheek, stretching his face a little.

"First of all, Dave, if you ever even _think _of calling me that again or touching my face a second time, you'll see more stars than a starship pilot in Start Wars, got it?" He cleared his throat, "Anyway, if you really have to know, I'm listening to _The XX, _a.k.a, the fucking best band on the entire fucking planet earth, Venus, Uranus et cetera, et cetera, et cetera."

"Can I listen?"

Karkat hesitantly gave Dave one of his earbuds, afraid of what his friend might think of his music choice.

The song had changed by then, and they two boys listened.

_You've applied the pressure  
>To have me crystalised<br>And you've got the faith  
>That I could bring paradise<em>

_ 'll forgive and forget_  
><em> Before I'm paralyzed<em>  
><em> Do I have to keep up the pace<em>  
><em> To keep you satisfied<em>

_ Things have gotten closer to the sun_  
><em> And I've done things in small doses<em>  
><em> So don't think that I'm pushing you away<em>  
><em> When you're the one that I've kept closest<em>

After the song ended, Dave took out his earbud. Karkat paused his playlist.

"Wow, dude. That was pretty okay." He put his headphones back onto his head and leaned back. "I could probably remix those. It would be fucking sweeter than TZ's shitty lunch-haul." He was referring to the fact that every day, Terezi brought an unnecessary amount of candy to school to go along with her lunch. Her sweet tooth was worse than Karkat's!

When the twenty-five minute bus ride was over, Dave and Karkat got off of the bus, entered the apartment building, and proceeded up _many _flights of stairs to the top floor. The elevator didn't work, so everybody had to take the stairs.

Dave searched his pockets for his keys, didn't find them, and then dug them out of the smallest pocket of his backpack. He opened the door, revealing a messy apartment filled with swords and other various weapons, CD's and wires, and puppets. Fucking puppets _everywhere. _Because of Dave's bro's weird puppet fetish, these creepy, colorful shits had become a normal part of Dave's life. The ones that scared Karkat the most were the Smuppets, the ones that Bro make a killing off of. The were basically these naked puppets with big, plush rumps that jutted out and noses that resembled big, soft puppet dicks.

People and their fucking fetishes.

Dave strode in and immediately turned on their television, while Karkat plopped himself onto the futon. The blonde one went over to a closet and pulled out a bunch of junk in a trunk. No. It was equipment for both Guitar Hero and DJ Hero.

"Vantas, my man, you get to choose. Will it be Guitar Hero?" He rolled on his r's. "Or DJ Hero?" He dragged the junk in the trunk to the middle of the living room area and kicked his Wii on with a black and white sock.

Karkat shook his head, his messy brown hair swooping back and forth.

"No. No! Guitar Hero is for wannabe heavy-metal twelve year olds and their creepy-ass obsessive parents who think that if their children seem rebellious, they'll have more friends. Though not all of the songs are complete shit, a bunch of them are mainstream and meant to appeal to the simple-minded folks who decide to spent their life's saving on this horrible fucking game." He squinted his eyes. "And I beat the boss on expert level _ages _ago."

Dave gave his friend a genuine smile and hooked up the controllers to the instruments. "I really missed you, bro."

Karkat rolled his eyes down and looked to the side. "I did too, man..." He grumbled. "And about- AHshit!" He nearly pissed his pants. Sitting right next to him was Dave and his bro's favorite puppet, L'il Cal. The fucking thing seemed to have a mind of it's own, what with Bro constantly using his super ninja speed to move all over the apartment without being seen. It made Karkat really. Fucking. Uneasy.

"Calm down, Carcass. It's just L'il Cal." Dave walked over and fist bumped the little dude. "L'il Cal is the shit, okay? And don't fucking say otherwise, or I'm a fuck your bitch."

Karkat rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, you dumb bulge-licking moron."

Dave handed Karkat one guitar and chose one of the shittiest songs in the entire game, not forgetting to snag the guitar part before Karkat, leaving his friend to play the bass.

"What? Shit, then, let me play the guitar."

"No fucking way, Karcicle. You're going to fuckin' rage bang my drums." Rage bang his drums? Racy...

"Fuck you, Strider."

The game loaded and the two boys played for almost two straight hours.

* * *

><p>"You hungry?" Dave asked Karkat, who was messing with a sword that was placed under the futon.<p>

"Sure, I guess." Karkat continued to mess with the sword with the bottoms of his shoes. He took a nervous side glance at L'il Cal, who was watching them from on top of Bro's laptop. It's blue eyes pierced deep into Karkat's fragile soul and- What the fuck? It was just a puppet.

"BRO!" Dave shouted into the air. "Give us a fucking pizza!" Karkat was about to give his friend the psycho stare when suddenly, a frozen meat lover's pizza appeared on the table in front of them.

"You know, it would help if this was cooked or something." In a flash, the pizza was gone. A minute later, it reappeared, hot and fresh as a frozen pizza could be. The was a dagger in there. Bro probably put it in there so that the boys could cut their meal. What a sweetheart. Karkat dug in, while Dave turned the TV on, grabbed a slice, and switched it to a dumb shitty cartoon show for kids.

It was Karkat's favorite show, nonetheless.

A half hour later, Dave looked over at the clock.

"Shit, man. Don't you have lacrosse at 6:30?"

Oh, God. He had forgotten about that.

"I-" He began to say, but he was cut off.

"Say no more. I'll just get Bro's car and drive you home, right?" Dave didn't have a license, but he used Bro's car almost as much as he made shitty mix tapes for his friends. So Karkat agreed.

The boys headed out, with Karkat uneasy about what he had to face when he got home.

* * *

><p>As Dave drove up Karkat's driveway, he patted his friend on the back.<p>

"Just blame me for everything, okay?"

"Of course not. See ya, Dave." He got out of the car and walked slowly towards his front door. He stopped at the _Welcome _mat, got his key out of his bag, _slowly _inserted it into the lock, and opened the door.

His parents were there, in front of the door, waiting for him.

Karkat gulped.


	6. Toleration of the Mad

Wow, I think this was the fastest update?

That's all I have to say, I guess. I probably won't update before 4/13, so I wish you a happy holiday!

Please enjoy chapter 6~ Oh, and sorry, Spellcheck is broken. Also, FF decided to be a bitch and remove every Mr./Mrs Vantas I typed, so if any of those are missing, feel free to point it out!

* * *

><p>"Karkat," Mr. Vantas began. "Where the Hell have you been?" His brown eyes bore down into his son's darker ones, the ones that betrayed no fear. Just deep, pure, crimson hatred.<p>

"Out." Karkat replied firmly, his voice icy. His mother came up and stood next to her husband.

"Out _where, _Karkat? We hope you're not doing drugs out there." Her anger with her son was kept under control for his sake. Karkat rolled his eyes.

"No, I was at Dave's house."

"David Strider?"

"No, David Hasselhoff."

"Doing _what?_"

"Playing video games, eating, spending time with my friend, doing _normal kid things._" He began to try to shove past his parents, but grabbed him by the arm and yanked him back.

"Why didn't you tell us that you were going to visit a friend after school." Mr. Vantas asked.

"You would have told me to get my ass back home."

"Is your homework done?" Mrs. Vantas asked.

"No." The the figures of authority look at each other, reading each other's thoughts, and left his wife to bring to law down upon their son's head.

"Hand me your phone, Karkat." She held out a hand, waiting for the object to fall into it.

"What? Are you freaking serious?"

"Phone. Now. Or I'll extend the ban from one month to six." Karkat dug his cell phone out o his bag and dropped it into his mother's hand, scowling until his face was nearly twisted into a knot.

"Now go get ready for lacrosse. I want you back down here in ten minutes. No more than that, or you won't be allowed to communicate with your friends for the next month as well." In response, Karkat spun on his heels, stomped up the stairs, entered his room, slammed the door behind him, and slip onto the floor. He buried his face into his hands and _laughed. _Karkat sat on his bedroom floor and fucking _laughed._

Karkat Vantas was certainly not an idiot, for you see, his well devised plan had been a great success. For quite some time now, he had pretended to be obsessed with his phone, always toying with it when his parents were around. He did this so that whenever he did something wrong, hid parents would take away his phone opposed to his laptop or his iPod, both of which he loved dearly.

Karkat dressed in his lacrosse uniform, grabbed his stick and gear, and sat down at his desk. His laptop was already on, as usual. His Pesterchum window was flashing, so he clicked on it. Oh joy. Look who it was.

- gallowsCalibrator [GC] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [GA] at 17:55 - -

GC: H3Y K4RK4T

GC: K4RKL3S

GC: G3T ON TH3 FUCK1NG 1NT3RN3T NOW!

GC: 1 W4NT TO T4LK TO YOU PERSON4LLY V14 "ONL1N3" CH4T

GC: 1S TH1S 3V3N ONL1N3? :?

GC: TH3 WORLD M4Y N3V3R KNOW...

CG: WHAT IN THE EVER LIVING FUCK DO YOU WANT PYROPE

GC: D4V3 TOLD M3 TH4T YOU 4R3 PROB4BLY 1N D33P SH1T R1GHT NOW

GC: 1 THOUGHT 1 WOULD 1NDULG3 1N YOUR M1S3RY :]

CG: OH GOD DAMMIT

CG: WOW

CG: YOU ARE THE LAST PERSON I WANT TO TALK TO RIGHT NOW.

GC: ;]

CG: FUCK

CG: YOU.

GC: SO W3R3 YOUR P4R3NTS UPS3T TH4T YOU W3NT TO D4V3S PL4C3 W1THOUT DO1NG YOUR WORK F1RST?

CG: YES AND NO

CG: IT'S REALLY MUCH MORE COMPLICATED THAN THAT.

CG: WHAT I MEAN IS

CG: THEY JUST REALLY HATE DAVE.

GC: R34LLY?

GC: WHO C4N HAT3 D4V3?

CG: MY PARENTS.

GC: 1 KNOW TH4T, DUMB4SS

GC: H3Y K4RK4T, H4V3 YOU B33N PR4CT1C1NG YOUR

GC: ?

CG: GTFO.

CG: NOW.

CG: WAIT HOLD ON. SERIOUS QUESTION FOR TEREZI PYROPE COMING IN. BRACE YOURSELF, JACKOFFS.

GC: WH4T? :?

CG: I KIND OF NOTICED THAT YOU KIND OF

CG: FUCKING BOTHER ME A LOT

CG: SO I WANT TO KNOW...

CG: ARE YOU... LIKE

CG: ATTRACTED TO ME?

GC: ...

GC: H4

GC: H4H4

GC: 

GC: FUCK1ING CHR1ST H3LP M3 DE4R LORD

CG: THIS ISN'T FUNNY, PYROPE.

CG: TYPING THAT WAS KIND OF FUCKING HARD FOR ME, SO JUST...

CG: OHFUCK.

CG: TZIHAVETOGONOWFUCKFUCKFUCK.

GC: BY3 K4RKL3S

- carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased pestering gallowsCalibrator [GC] at 18: 07 -

"Karkat!" His father was hollering up the stairs. "If you don't get ass down here in 3 seconds-"

Karkat's door slammed open, and the teenager bounded down the stairs with his sports equipment. He brushed past his dad and swiftly made his was to their car. He plopped down into the passenger seat, pulled his iPod out of his bag, and shoved the earbuds into his ears. He began blasting _Tracktor Bowling, _another one of his favorite bands. His father got into the car about a minute later, and the two did not exchange a single word the entire ride there.

"Hey, Karkat!" John jogged over to greet his friend. His mouth guard was in, making certain words sound strange. "You look uffset." Karkat said nothing.

"What happened thith time, Karkat? Do you need Kanaya?" Karkat said nothing.

"Come on, I won't laff at you for it or anythfing." At first, not a sound uttered from Karkat's mouth. Then, he shouted,

"I've just about had it up to here with my fucking parents, okay?" He threw his arms into the air to make a point. "They're so fucking outrageous! They make such a big deal about my grades and my future that I don't even get time to myself. How can you be a teenage guy when your parents barely even let you visit a friend for a few hours to take a break from the shit ton of homework we're assigned? They're lunatics, and I've had enough of their crap." Karkat pulled his helmet onto his head. "Now let's pass."

When their two and a half hour practice was over, John, with five new bruises on his legs and arms, sat next to Karkat as he carelessly crammed his gear into his lacrosse bag.

"You know, Karkat, you can stay at my place for some time if you want to. My dad likes you, so he'd be totally fine with it!" He smiled at his friend, kicking off his cleats to put on his usual Sketchers sneakers.

"Would I get to cram cake into my shout hole every day? If so, then of course I'll stay." Karkat smirked for a second, but the smile faded just after. "But in all seriousness, I can't do that. I can't run away from my problem. I'm going to deal with it myself. Be a man. Try to win. All I want to a decent social life, you know? Do you know how they would react if I got a girlfriend?" John giggled at the thought of Karkat introducing his parents to a girl.

"I see what you mean," John stood up and hauled his bag onto his shoulder, his back hunched a little under the weight. "Good luck with that, Karkat! And remember, if you need anything, don't hesitate to talk to me, okay?" Karkat nodded. John went to his father's car, and Karkat watched it drive off into the distance. Karkat sighed and waited for his own parents to arrive.

He waited for ten minutes, and was still pacing on the field long after everyone else had left. When he was facing the street, he saw a familiar face. The glasses, the weird Japanese fashion, the dyed bangs. It was Sollux.

Karkat turned away so that he wouldn't be seen, but the other boy had already spotted him, and began jogging over.

"Hey there, KK!" He said happily, waving slowly. Tonight, he chose to wear a black, short -sleeved, button down shirt with a red and black striped long-sleeve shirt under it. His sleeves were rolled up. He wore a loosely hanging tie that matched his long-sleeved shirt. As for pants, he wore baggy black shorts with plenty of zippers, pockets, and a chain to top it all off. His belt showed a (rather cute) Japanese-looking character for the buckle. God, this kid was a freak. And if Karkat's observations were correct, he might have even been an otaku...

"God, do you play _sports?_" Sollux lisped. He chuckled a little. He noticed Karkat's eyes scanning his outfit, and laughed.

"This? I don't usually make my outfits _this _bizarre_, _but I went to a con today. Gotta look sexy for the camera's, if you know what I'm saying." He wiggled his eyebrows. "So, gonna speak any time soon?"

"As a matter of fact, I was kind of thinking about why you are treating my like your best friend after we've only spoken once." Karkat looked over to the side. No cars coming to pick him up.

"Well, call me corny, but it's because you stood up for me. Of course I'm going to be nice to you. I don't treat respectable people like assholes, you know?" He took a deep breath. "Wanna just, walk around or something? It doesn't seem like your parental units are coming any time soon."

Sollux began walking towards the street. After hesitating, Karkat put his bag on his back and followed, cradling with his lacrosse stick as he walked. When Sollux turned around and saw Karkat walking behind him, he smiled.

"Hey, KK?"

"What?"

"Can I try that? The stick, I mean."

After thinking for a moment, Karkat handed Sollux the stick. "Be really fucking careful with that, got it? Just the head cost nearly two hundred dollars." Sollux carefully inspected the lacrosse stick. It was black, red, gray, and had a bit of white and light blue. Karkat treated it like a child, since his parents would have his ass if anything were to happen to it.

Sollux messed around with the stick a bit more before handing it back to Karkat. The two crossed the street onto the sidewalk, and continued to walk towards the center of town. For a while, neither of them spoke. They looked up at the clear night sky as they walked, taking in deep breaths of cool, fresh air.

"Sollux?" Karkat asked.

"Yeah?"

"Are you going to be at school tomorrow?"

"Nah."

"Oh. Uhh, do you have a Pesterchum?"

"Do you have a pencil?"

"Hmmm," Karkat pulled a Sharpie out of his bag's side pocket. It was for labeling his gear in case some jealous shit decided to try and steal it. "I hope this will do."

"Whatever, as long as it works." His lisp. _His lisp._

Sollux took a business card out of one of his pockets and tore it in half. He wrote his Chumhandle, twinArmageddons, on one and handed it to Karkat. First, Karkat tucked his lacrosse stick under his armpit. He then pocketed the card, took the other half and the marker, and wrote his handle on the card. He gave it to Sollux, who put it in one of one of the pockets with a zipper. Karkat put his marker back into the bag.

As the two walked, they actually found things that they shared in common, and had a few conversations about them. Karkat decided that Sollux was actually very entertaining to be around, while Sollux concluded that Karkat was really awesome for a crabby asshat.

The two had talked about different people in their school, games, and even came across the topic of the "upcoming apocalypse" in December. They were still talking about different theories when a car rolled up beside them. It was Sollux waved, while the man looked the boy over. Oh, no. Karkat would have done a 2x facepalm combo right then and there.

"Bye, Sollux. See you whenever."

"See ya later, KK."

Karkat got into the car, literally tossing his stuff into the back seats. The moment his father pulled off, the dreaded question was asked.

"Who was that, Karkat?" Karkat let out a tiny sigh.

"That was Sollux Captor. He's just a friend of mine."

"He seems weird." Great.

"There's nothing with him, dad."

"I don't like the way he was dressed." Fucking great.

"He was cosplaying..."

"In public? At _night?_"

"...He umm, went to get something to eat right after a convention, and was walking home when we saw each other."

"I still don't like the way he was dressed." _Really _fucking great. Karkat felt a problem creeping up on him. "Karkat, I don't want you hanging out with kids like that." _Whoop, there it was._

"Look, dad, you don't even fucking know-"

_ "Watch your language, young man." _His father didn't say a word after that. Karkat just stared at the familiar houses that they passed nearly every day, looking for things that seemed different. Everything was the same, however, and Karkat decided to close his eyes and play his iPod.

"But mom," Karkat nearly whined. "He was more than a half of an hour late picking me up! I wasn't about to sit in the grass waiting while someone I knew just passed by."

_ "I thought that practice ended at 9:30." _ huffed "I also got stuck in traffic. There was an accident along the way."

brought her fist down on the table, making the two males quiet down.

_ "_Karkat, I don't want to hanging out with this, Sollux kid, got it?"

"But Mom-"

"_Got it?_"

"Yeah, yeah..."

turned to face her husband. "As for you, you make sure to pick Karkat up on time, all right?" He nodded in response.

Karkat headed up to his room to get started on his homework, and didn't finish until nearly 1AM.


	7. Overboard

Wow, vacation sure was fun. I hope you all enjoyed your 4/13!

Anyway, I guess here's a **trigger warning: Suicide and Self-Harm references.**

And Karkat sure is good with the ladies, hmm?  
><em>ENJOY.<em>

**EDIT: **Wow, sure was a long vacation! Thank you to user nie2294 for pointing out that Karkat didn't have his phone! I am so grateful for my readers. ;_;  
>I changed a few things as well as spotted a typo or two.<em><br>_

**ENJOY.**

* * *

><p>The next morning for Karkat was very uneventful. The peak of his day was before first and second block, when Gamzee confronted him in the hallway. He had picked up his short, grumpy little friend, who was screaming at him, and spun him over his head like a pizza.<p>

"Makara! Get to class _now!_" A teacher had shouted at him. Gamzee had sprinted off to his next class, laughing. Karkat was grinding his teeth.

At the end of fifth period, right before lunch, he had been walking towards his locker when he heard shouting form behind him. They were insults, but they were not directed towards him however.

"Hey, Mexican!" Karkat watched as Aradia Megido, one of the girls in his peer group, turned around.

"Yeah, hey Chola! Look-" The kid, who had his short gelled hair dyed green, made a frowning face while he pretended to slit his wrists. Aradia looked bored as usual.

"I'm not Mexican." She said dully. "I'm Puerto-Rican. I was born here in the United States, anyway."

"Fuck you," The green haired kid's friend shouted at her. "Go home and hang yourself in your basement, emo girl!" Aradia looked unaffected by his statement. Her face never really showed emotion. She began to turn away when Karkat stepped in.

"Leave her alone, you headbanging shitstain!" He screamed at the two guys, who were still chuckling like idiots. "And your hair color looks like what my mom digs out of the drain every few months!"

"Whatever, midget." They both walked away laughing, shoving each other, and pulling up their sagging jeans.

Bums.

Karkat went over to Aradia and rubbed her back. Now they were, Karkat noticed hurt in her tired-looking eyes. "It's okay. Don't listen to those douche bags. We love you, Aradia" He gave her one of his rare, full-out smiles. Her eyes were getting moister each moment he was with her.

"I just... Can't stand how everybody looks at me." She looked into Karkat's eyes. "Tell me, please." She she wiped at her eye. "Am I creepy or weird in any way?" Karkat pulled her into his arms.

"Of course you're not, Aradia." He let go of her.

"Thank you," She said quietly. She practically floated away from him to his next class.

Aradia Megido. All of her friends loved her. The rest of the school looked down on her. She was like the walking dead, emotionless and bored all of the time. Only a couple of her friends were capable of making her smile, and Karkat was one of them. Aradia spoke fluent Portuguese, both of her parents being from Puerto Rico. Aradia was 3 or so inches taller than Karkat, and wore the same tattered, long, black skirt to school every day, along with one of four heavily pattered black t-shirts that she owned. She had mid back-length, curly, dark brown hair that was almost the same color as Karkat's. She had dark bags under the eyes of her golden-brown skin. Her red lips were always pressed into a tight line. At times, she could be very sassy and sarcastic, giving people snide remarks and comments.

Aradia, however, was a star art student, and had been an honors art student since the previous year, though her art was often very macabre. She also (surprisingly) had a great interest in the deceased. She was odd, but her friends loved her so much.

Karkat headed off to his study hall. He might as well get some work done while he could. He then walked into his class and plopped down in a seat in the back, placing his bag next to him so that he did not disrupt the ten or so others in the room.

He then took out and turned on his laptop. God bless technology and online textbooks. He had just opened both Pesterchum and his browser when the chat client's window began to flash orange. twinArmageddons. Damn. It was Sollux.

twinArmageddons [TA] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG] at 11:40 –

TA:hey, kk.

CG: OH DEAR LORD.

TA: what?

CG: WELL FOR ONE, I'M CURRENTLY HALL, TRYING TO GET PILES OF FUCKING HISTORY HOMEWORK DONE. WHO NEW THAT AMERICA HAD BEEN AROUND THIS FUCKING LONG?

TA: ummmm, okay. 2o anyway wanna talk or 2omethiing? ii'm bored.

CG: FUCK.

TA: what'2 YOUR problem? though ii'm 2tartiing two thiink that you alway2 act thii2 pii2y.

CG: YOU TYPE WITH A QUIRK TOO? AN ANNOYING ONE AT THAT.

TA: of cour2e ii do. iit'2 fun, ii gue22. maybe iit'2 a force of habiit too... whatever. you wanna know why ii type liike thii2?

CG: NO.

TA: well two 2tart off, my zodiiac 2iign ii2 gemiinii, and iit look2 liike the roman numeral for two, riight?

CG: KILL ME NOW.

TA: 2o when ii typ wiith two II'2 ← liike 2o, iit look2 a lot liike the 2iign. al2o, ii replace my 2 *S's*** **wiith 2'2 2o becau2e of my siign. you know. 2o iit kiind of look2 liike ii'm typiing wiith a lii2p too.

CG: …WOW SO YOU FUCKING LIKE YOUR LISP?

TA: no.

CG: I'M OBVIOUSLY WASTING MY TIME HERE. IF YOU WANT TO KEEP TEXTING ME SWEET NOTHINGS FOR THE REST OF THE DAY GO AHEAD BUT I'M NOT FUCKING RESPONDING TO ANY OF THEM.

CG: SAYOUNARA BITCH.

TA: kk? can you hang out wiith me toniight?

CG: WHAT? NO SOLLUX I'M BUSY. I CAN'T SKIP ANOTHER DAY WITH KANAYA. I BET HER MOM'S ANXIOUS TO SEE ME AGAIN.

TA: ii don't know who the fuck you're talkiing about but that'2 not what ii mean.

CG: THEN WHAT?

TA: wanna 2neak out?do 2ome stuff? driink 2ome 2tuff, maybe?

CG: JESUS. HOW LATE ARE WE TALKING?

TA: ii can piick you up at 12.

CG: I'VE NEVER HAD ALCOHOL BEFORE. YOU HAVE A FAKE ID.

TA: ii never leave wiithout iit.

CG: ...FINE, BUT IF WE GET ARRESTED I'LL SAY I WAS UNDER YOUR STUPID ANIME SPELL.

TA: hey, the japane2e never diid notiin' to ya. 2ee you iin the morniing, kkliiciious.

CG: GROSS.

Karkat absconded out of his Pesterchum account. Had he just agreed to go drinking with Sollux, a guy he barely even knew? He just did.

And Karkat was pretty fucking excited about it too.

Kanaya was going to be so upset with him.

And so, with a warm feeling in the pit of his stomach and a sour expression on his face, Karkat busied himself with the homework he had already received.

–

At the end of yet another long day, Karkat got on the bus with Kanaya. She preferred to talk rather than listen to music. Her home was a mere six minutes away from the school, so they preferred to hold their conversations until they were safely enclosed in the walls of her dwelling.

The two walked in to find Kanaya's mother sitting at the kitchen table, sifting through mail with a worried expression on her face.

"Hello, Kanaya honey." When she saw Karkat standing next to her, her face lit up a little.

"Hello, Karkat dear!"

"Hello, Ms. Maryam."

"Honey, I already told you a million times! Just call me Dolorosa."

Kanaya rolled her eyes. "Please, mother. I don't find that appropriate." Ms. Maryam sighed and looked back down at her papers and envelopes.

"You know what I don't find appropriate, Kanaya, baby? You."

"Please do not resurrect this topic with me again, mother." Kanaya growled.

"Who would have thought that my beautiful daughter would be a dyke?"

"Do _not _use that word, mother! It's rude and I find it very offensive!" Kanaya was steaming, and she was almost at Karkat level. Soon, she could get to rage-howling, if she had the potential.

"Karkat's such a nice boy," Ms. Maryam mumbled. "Why don't you marry him? Make me some grandchildren."

This made Karkat's face go redder that a chili pepper. If Kanaya had had light skin, hers probably would have too. Kanaya grabbed Karkat's hand.

"Let's go." She said sternly. She pulled him into her room and closed the door. She then turned to Karkat.

"My sincerest apologies, Karkat. It's just that... Unf!" She smacked her face with her hand, smearing black lipstick on her palm. "She's just so adamant about my... Sexuality..." Karkat hugged his friend and rubbed her back gently.

Dolorosa Maryam was not exactly the happiest woman on the planet. Five years ago, she had lost her husband after he had a long struggle with throat cancer. Both Maryam women were overcome with grief. When Kanaya saw that her mother would never be the same, she began to take care of her, but from then on, she knew that her mother's life would be quite a turbulent one.

Years before that, when Kanaya was but a toddler, Ms. Maryam had been expecting another little girl. However, on a sunny, windy day in May, the child was born with no pulse. She had been stillborn.

"Where is Ebony, mommy?" Kanaya had asked when the parents had arrives home.

"Kanaya, you know that cute black dress I got for you a few months ago?"

"Yes!"

"Take it out, mommy wants to know how it fits you."

–

Karkat went to sit on Kanaya's bed, while Kanaya left to use the bathroom. Karkat looked around. Kanaya's bedroom was like something out of a magazine.

Her walls were a pale lime green, while the large window on the wall across from the door lit it so that it was brighter. It would also be expected that someone with such a love for sewing would have a messy room littered with fabrics and materials. Kanaya made it look like a room from a fairy tale. Decoratively draped over her furniture were large lengths of fabrics in many colors and patterns. Some were bright pink, black and white polka dots, stripes, or metallic looking colors as well. had a black wooden frame that went well with her walls, while her covers and sheets were black and white polka dots. Littered near the head of the bed were a good amount of satin pillows, different shapes and sizes but all the same shade of jade green.

Kanaya's room was a palette of creativity and beauty. It was always amazing to look at, even though Karkat had been in this room more times than he could count.

Karkat kicked off his sneakers and hugged his knees, waiting for his friend to reenter the room. When she did, he patted a spot next to him so that she could sit next to him. Not that she wasn't going to already. Kanaya sat.

"How'd it go with Rose yesterday?" Karkat asked curiously. "Was she able to make it?" Kanaya's face looked both pleased and disappointed at once. She sighed.

"She was able to make it, and we had a nice time. She showed me some of her literature. It was nice..." Kanaya swung her feet a little and looked down into her lap.

"It was your mother, wasn't it?" Karkat knew. Mrs. Maryam was the type to assume that when Kanaya invited a member of the same sex over, it meant that they were in a relationship.

"It was. She's just so paranoid sometimes, you know? Anyway... Is there anything interesting happening with you?"

Karkat hesitated before he spoke. "I'm... Going out with Sollux Captor. Ever hear of him?" Kanaya had ignored the last part of Karkat's sentence.

"You're going out... As in a _date_?" Her eyebrows raised while Karkat's face turned red once again.

"Fucking _heavens _no, Kanaya!" He playfully slapped her wrist. "I barely know him anyway. Do you know anything about him?"

Kanaya thought a little. Then, something seemed to click. "Actually, I think he might have fallen asleep in one of my art classes a little while back. He was scolded by the teacher, and he just left the room and never returned. He was dressed in Japanese punk type fashion. It was pretty cute. Perhaps it was Visual Kei, or maybe just-"

"Ramble alert, Kan."

"I'm sorry..." She pulled a binder out of her shoulder bag and took out a worksheet. "Tell me more about your social get-together with this narcoleptic otaku boy." She and Karkat both smiled. Then, Karkat;s grin turned into a nervous sneer.

"Well... We're going drinking, I guess. He has a fake ID, so I guess we'll be fine." Kanaya sighed.

"The fact that he has a fake ID does not make everything peachy, Karkat. I really would be devastated if something were to happen to you."

"I know, but I can't drive, and I'm pretty sure he can't either." That was an assumption. "They guy isn't stupid. At least not _that _stupid."

"Karkat, I'm afraid you're being stupid. They've been teaching us about alcohol since elementary school, and I believe that you should-"

"Wow, okay Kanaya!" Karkat was beginning to get angry. "I had no idea you were my fucking _mom!_"

Kanaya stayed perfectly calm. "It's just my nature to be worried about the well-being of one of my _closest friends_. You can go ahead and drink yourself a fucking storm, but let me tell you, I'll make your hangover hang _you _over quite well if you come crawling to me." She looked at Karkat's rage-twisted face. "Now calm down." She put a hand on his head. "You look like you're in labor."

–

After a few moments, Karkat had calmed down. Things had been settled. Karkat would still go out that night, and he had promised that she could have his belongings if he died. All of his shit would be hers. All of it.

The two had studied and gotten all of their homework done, and as Karkat took his leave, Kanaya had whispered in his ear, "I'll be texting you to see how you're doing, got it?"

"I got my phone taken away."

"Please, just be safe."

Karkat grunted in response and entered his mother's car. They had driven home in silence.

–

Karkat heard a gentle scratch on his front door. Finally. It was about fucking time. He opened the door to find Sollux, dressed normally for once in a sweatshirt and ripped jeans.

"You ready, KK?"

"You're ten minutes late."

"Great. Let's go."

And the two had taken off into the night.


	8. Midnight Bar

SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT. My parents are trying desperately to keep me off of the computer, so I've been kind of adding things in little bit and pieces!  
>And the story has certainly not ended! It has barely even begun, actually!<p>

Thank you for waiting, my lovely readers! Here's chapter eight.

And excuse me for knowing absolutely nothing about alcohol.

* * *

><p>Sollux and Karkat were out. At midnight. Walking to a bar downtown.<p>

Pretty sketchy.

Karkat decided to start a conversation between them. You know. So that it was just a tad less awkward.

"So," Karkat began, shoving is fists into his pockets. "You like... Anime?"

"Yeah... Does that bother you?" Sollux raised an eyebrow accusingly, and Karkat frowned.

"No... It's just that..." Karkat didn't really know what to say.

"What, so are you going to say that anime is a silly waste of time or something? A time killer for suicidal pre-teens?" Karkat was surprised, since Sollux had seemed like such an easy-going guy. Apparently, he had the tendency to have mood swings. That was something to watch out for.

"No, dude. Okay, I used to like anime too. I just kind of grew out of that phase, okay?"

Sollux snorted.

"KK, being an anime fan is not a _phase._" He pushed up his glasses. Could he see through the lenses in the dark. Apparently so. "That's like tossing away... A way of _life _and starting a new one." He shook his head.

Karkat rolled his eyes, and Sollux saw it. He snickered a little to himself.

"What anime do you watch?" Karkat asked, wanting to know what type of stuff this kid was into. Hentai? Gross. Shoujo? No. Shounen. That would be cool.

Instead, Sollux just responded with "Tons." and shoved his hands into the back pockets of his jeans.

Now Sollux was curious. "What was your favorite anime back in the old days, KK?"

Karkat thought for a moment. "Naruto," He finally said, looking at Sollux to see how he would respond.

"Typical..." He muttered, kicking a pebble. "Didja ever cosplay?" Cothplay. It was cute the way he said it. You know.

No homo.

"Yeah, I was Sasuke." Karkat responded, slight tone of embarrassment in his voice. "But I gave that up years ago."

Sollux seemed to consider that for a moment.

"You seem like a really good Sasuke." He said a bit matter-of-factly. "You were probably popular at cons."

"I only wore it on Halloween."

"Oh."

Awkward pause. So the two just kept walking. The night was comfortably warm, with a chilly breeze running through the air, and the sky was clear and brilliant with twinkling stars.

Eventually, a state trooper caught sight of the two, and slowly, he cruised up to them. Sollux seemed completely cool, while Karkat was absolutely horrified.

"Hello boys." said the officer. "What are you two up to?"

In a completely normal voice, Sollux responded, "We're heading out to visit a friend."

"At this time?" Suspicion.

"Yeah. The thing is, he gets really _really _depressed at random times, and sometimes he just calls us over. We need to keep an eye on him."

"He doesn't get his parents to help?"

"You know us. Teenagers." Sollux shrugged. "At some point, we feel more comfortable around friends instead of our parents."

The officer chuckled. "I remember that. But that was when the dinosaurs walked the earth. Now I have a son of my own. He's seven, and he's turning eight next month."

"Hey, but just know this." Sollux smiled. "When he gets older, he may seem like he's growing apart from you, but he still loves you just the same."

"Of course!" The officer chuckled again, but then his face grew serious. "Do your parents know you're out here at this time?"

Karkat joined in this time. "Yeah, they said it was fine, as long as we didn't get kidnapped on the way."

"Okay then. You two be careful. There are a lot of psychos out at this time."

The officer drove away, and Karkat heaved a sigh of relief. Wow. Sollux really did know how to lie. It was...

Sus_pi_cious.

"KK!" Sollux said sharply. "Stop shaking like a chihuahua and let's go." Karkat dug his hands into his pockets again, and they were off.

After a while, Karkat finally asked, "Just where the Hell are we going anyway?"

Staring straight ahead, Sollux replied, "The best place in the area. They have pretty awesome everything, I guess." Great description. Thanks a lot, Sollux Captor.

Sollux turned to look towards Karkat. "So what are you into? I don't really know a lot about you."

Karkat stopped walking and looked up into the star-studded sky. Sollux stopped as well, waiting for Karkat to say something.

"Well, if it wasn't obvious to you before, I like lacrosse a lot." He began walking again. "I also like movies."

"What kind of movies?"

Karkat's defensive side kicked in. "Now what kind of fucking question is that? I said I like movies, got it? I watch the ones that I like, and that's that!" He growled at Sollux's amused looking face. Sollux snickered.

"Jesus, I just want to know what kind of movies you're into. Like, usually people who enjoy movies like a specific genre. Calm your fucking rage boner."

"Ummm..." Karkat seemed a little uncomfortable, and hestitated before spitting out, "I like romcoms, okay?"

Sollux chuckled a bit to himself. That's right.

"Yup. Because," Karkat threw his voice up an octave. "Karkat's _certainly _not the type to watch romcoms!"

Sollux's smile faded. "I didn't mean to laugh, but I guess everybody's right. I'm sorry, KK."

"Hm."

On the way, Karkat and Sollux talked about themselves.

Sollux was a hacker. Karkat was a romance expert. Karkat had a lot of friends. Sollux had none.

They were so different, but somewhere he couldn't quite feel it, like that numb spot in his brain that allowed him to flat out like someone, Karkat knew that they would be friends.

"We're here, KK."

The two walked into a very contemporary looking building with tinted windows. The inside was stunningly high-tech. They walls, tables, and bar were a shiny white. The lights changed from blue to purple to basically every color in the visible light spectrum. It was like being on one of those retro planets in Star Wars. Everything was modern from the polished black floors to the balconies to the lights in the bar counter's surface.

Even the music complemented the scene, brostep pounding at a perfect volume all around.

"Dude, come on." Sollux said, grabbing Karkat's arm. "The bar's over here."

The two guys sat down in front of the bar.

"Awesome. The best bartender's here tonight!" Sollux exclaimed softly, pointing at a guy with a black hat pressing down his spiky blonde hair.

Wait, was that-?

The man turned and walked over and oh God...

He had a white polo, black jeans and... The dumb pointy anime shades.

"Karkat?" He asked.

"Bro?" Karkat asked.

"What?" Sollux asked.

No doubt. It was Dave's bro.

"You two know each other?" Sollux seemed a bit embarrassed.

"Yeah," Bro answered. "This is little man's little friend. Dave and Karkat are pretty close." Bro rubbed his chin. "You two in the same grade?" Karkat nodded.

Bro frowned. "Sollux, that means you're not twenty-two, hm?" Sollux's mouth twisted downwards.

"No..."

"So then, what'll it be, boys?" Bro smirked and zipped his lips with his thumb and index finger. Sollux seemed to perk up.

"I'll have Cherry Coke and cherry vodka." Bro nodded.

"You?" He looked at Karkat.

"He's an alcohol virgin." Sollux said with a mischievous smirk.

"Fine." Bro said. "What do you like?"

Karkat replied almost immediately, "What's the sweetest drink you have?"

Bro rubbed his chin again. He wore fingerless gloves. Okay.

"Our banshee is the shit, actually. I'll grab you and Thollark your drinks. It's on me if you don't like what you get." Bro went off to make their drinks.

"Thollark?" Karkat snorted.

"He calls me that sometimes." Sollux's eyebrows scrunched. "He calls me that all the time."

The two sat there a little awkwardly, and Karkat drummed his fingers to the beat of the music in the background, pretending to be interested in it. His heart was beating quickly in his chest, but so gently that he could barely tell how nervous he actually was.

"Sollux," He said, looking at the lights in the white counter change from blue to purple. "I'm kind of..." He chewed his bottom lip.

"Nervous? There's no need to be." Sollux propped his elbows onto the table. "Just calm down." The bass in the song playing almost drowned out his lisp. Almost, not quite. "If you get drunk and pass out, I'll carry you to the emergency room on my back."

Karkat looked wide-eyed at Sollux.

"What? Wait! I was just kidding, you know that, KK."

"That was a terrible joke."

"You overreacted."

"Did not."

"You should at least know that getting drunk usually doesn't kill you, right?"

"Quiet, you. Of course I knew that."

"Suit yourself." Sollux snickered. "Here're our drinks." Bro was walking over to them, a tall glass in one hand and a smaller one in his other. He set the smaller glass in front of Karkat.

"Here's a Banshee for you, m'lady." Karkat spat square onto Bro's glasses. He set the tall glass in front of Sollux.

"And here's a Cherry Coke vodka for Thollark Honda Toyota Nihon kimono katana sugoi master-sensei." Sollux gave him the finger.

"You're welcome boys. Enjoy. And let's hope I don't lose my fucking job. Dave'll kill me." Bro flashed an attractive toothy smirk and was off in a flash. Literally, he was there one moment and gone the next.

"Where the fuck did he go?" Karkat asked, staring at his drink.

"Where does he ever go?" Sollux looked at Karkat, raising his glass. "Bottoms up." Karkat's mouth twisted.

"Bottoms up..." He sipped at his drink and scrunched his nose. Wow. It tasted like... Alcohol. But really sweet.

It was delicious. All of a sudden, Karkat couldn't think about what he would have done if he had waited another few years to turn 21 just to taste this. His life wouldn't have been different, of course, but damn! He was so glad to have tried this now. He sipped at it again.

Sollux was resting his cheek in his palm, grinning.

"What's it taste like?" Karkat sipped again.

"...Well... Like alcohol..." Another sip. "And bananas." While he began to drink again, he watched as Sollux tipped his head backwards and... Karkat nearly choked. Sollux literally downed the entire glass in less then six seconds.

Sollux shook his head rapidly. It looked like Karkat was going to be the one doing the carrying. He shuddered at the thought of carrying that much dead weight. Sollux was tall, and that was a problem.

Sollux called for another bartender. It was not Bro who came, but a woman in what appeared to be in her late twenties, with short brown hair.

"Can you bring me another Cherry Coke vodka? Please?" Sollux smiled.

The woman nodded and went to make his drink. Karkat wasn't even a third of the way through his drink.

"What the fuck, Sollux?" Karkat said loudly. "Are you fucking crazy?"

Sollux smirked, moved closer to Karkat, and whispered softly in his ear,

"_Yolo._" Karkat pushed his away.

"You're insane." He sipped away at his Banshee, watching as Sollux got another glass and guzzled it down like a sink.

–

Two hours later, Karkat didn't know what to do. Sollux was very, very drunk. Karkat had had another Banshee and had tried a chocolate martini before he was feeling sick of sweets.

"KK..." His speech was very slurred. "I'ma throwup..." Karkat looked frantically around for something for his friend to puke in. He needed a bucket. A bucket.

Sollux laughed tiredly. "S'okay, I'm just pullin' your leg, is all, KK." Karkat still asked for a doggy bag, just in case. He asked for another, since the sight of barf just about made him want to throw up as well.

Sollux brought his face closer to Karkat's and breathed, "Y'look pretty damn adorable when you're all panicky-like..." His breath smelled strongly of alcohol. He dragged his index finger across Karkat's cheek, which made him gulp. Karkat pushed him away gently.

"Dude, I need to get you the fuck home..." But how was Karkat going to get into his house. He wasn't going to search Sollux's... Pants for a key. Karkat sighed.

It was going to have to be a Friday night sleepover. He would make up a story to tell his parents. Karkat thought of Sollux's parents. He had never met them, and didn't know what they were like. Heck- he had just met Sollux a matter of days before!

Wow, this whole thing had been a terrible idea from the start. But he'd have to deal with it in the morning.

"C'mon, Sollux," Karkat said to his friend. He helped the boy stand up, and Sollux slumped onto his shoulder. He was losing consciousness. For once, being an athlete was paying off.

Karkat had begun to half drag Sollux to the door when a figure suddenly appeared in front of them. It was Bro.

"You're in luck," he said, pushing up his pointy shades. "My shift ended a half hour ago, but I stuck around to keep an eye on you two. I'll give you a ride home."

"Oh God... Thanks, Bro."

Bro tipped the front of his hat a little in a silly gesture. "No problem, Mr. Krabs." Karkat growled at Bro, who laughed in response.

They walked out to his night-black Nissan and got in the back seat. Sollux was completely unconscious by then.

"Drop us off at my place." Karkat demanded.

The car started, and soon, they were off.


	9. Bittersweet Saturday

Hey, sorry for the wait! Next week is the last week of school, and I have been terribly overwhelmed.  
>I also put off typing a lot. I'm sorry.<p>

I bet most of you have heard of what FF is doing with Rated M fics. Umm, rude? I signed up for AO3 about a month of two ago, and I can not receive my account until later this month. So if my fic is deleted, God forbid, I will upload it to AO3 when I get my account! I hope it survives until then!

And to those of you who have lost their work, I'm very sorry.

Enjoy.

* * *

><p>Bro dropped Karkat and a heavily sleeping Sollux off in front of his lawn. He didn't pull into the driveway so that his parents wouldn't hear or notice anything. Karkat thanked him, and the blond man pulled off.<p>

Karkat dragged Sollux to the front door, got out the lacrosse lanyard from his back pocket, and slowly and steadily inserted it into the key hole. He turned it.

Slowly...

_Slowly..._

He pushed on the door with gentle force and it opened. He pushed more, and the door made a low creak. Karkat held his breath, wishing that Sollux could hold his too. He pulled Sollux in and closed the door behind him. He locked it and took off his shoes.

_Step one... Success..._

Now Karkat lugged Sollux to the stairs, his next challenge. A famously stupid quote from Dave's shitty webcomic popped into his mind.

I warned you about the stairs, bro.

Karkat began climbing, holding his breath once more. His heartbeat seemed loud enough to wake his sleeping parents. With each step, he stopped, took a breath, and then climbed another. With each step, Sollux's shoes gently thumped against the wood.

I told you dawg.

He continued the pattern until he finally reached the top. Twelve stairs. Two teenagers. One goal. Conquered.

Karkat heaved a choked sigh of relief. Then, Sollux's body jerked. The boy made a tiny heaving sound and spat up on Karkat's shoulder. Karakt wanted to scream. He quickly dragged Sollux into his room and partially shut the door, so that he may still hear any person moving in the hallway. Gently, he lied Sollux onto the bed, a string of mucus and saliva connecting his mouth and Karkat's shoulder.

Karkat backed up and pulled off his shirt. He dumped it into the hamper in his corner. He then pulled on his Batman pajama shirt, pulled off his pants, and put on his red plaid pajama pants. It was a bit warm for those, but he didn't want to sleep in his boxers with his friend in the same room.

He also realized how strange it was to be changing in the same room as your friend. Even if he was sleeping. Karkat shrugged, pulled a few blankets from his closet, took a pillow from his bed, and spread it out on the floor. He closed his blinds and got under the covers of his makeshift bed.

Karkat couldn't sleep, he was so nervous, so he spent almost an hour thinking of what he would tell his parents in the morning. When he finally came to a conclusion about what he would say, he was drowsy. His story was a little ridiculous, but it would have to do.

Karkat drifted off to sleep.

* * *

><p>It was 5AM on a Saturday, so Karkat's parents were still sound asleep. Good. Karkat was awake, and so he began to put his plan into action. He shook Sollux's shoulder.<p>

"_Sollux!" _He shout-whispered. "_Wake up!"_ Sollux snored even louder. Karkat slapped him softly on the cheek. His eyes fluttered, but he was still asleep.

Karkat went into the bathroom, filled a rinsing cup with water, and brought it back into his room. He poured it onto Sollux's face, which made him wake up immediately. He rubbed his head.

"Fuck..."

"C'mon. I have to get you home."

"Why'm I all wet?"

"I had to fucking wake you up."

"S'gross... My head really hurts." Crap. Sollux was hung over. Karkat had forgotten about that. Sollux looked like he was in serious pain. He had to do something.

"Ummm, downstairs and sit at the table. I'll umm... Google something for you." So Sollux did. Karkat turned on his laptop and began searching. After reading a bit and avoiding creepy-looking websites, he found a remedy that he could try.

He went downstairs and found Sollux with his head down on the kitchen table. Karkat went to brew some coffee, and then sat across from him.

"I'm making you some coffee, and after that, I need you to walk your hung-over ass at home. Gt it?"

Sollux groaned. They sat out the wait in silence, and then Karkat poured the bitter black coffee into a portable mug.

"I'm sorry I can't walk you home. My parents'll get suspicious. Pester me when you get back." Karkat said. He never realized when his caring side was out, though others did. Sollux smiled a little, took the mug, and headed for the door.

"Thanks, KK." He said quietly. And he left.

Karkat had done it. He had snuck out with a friend and then successfully hid the evidence that would lead to suspicion. Damn, he got lucky.

Proud of what he had done, Karkat raised a fist triumphantly, shut off the lights, and went up to his room to sleep the day away.

* * *

><p>When Karkat awoke, it was nearly 3 PM. He was confused ans still a bit tired, but he still got up out of bed. Slowly and sleepily, he went into the bathroom, brushed his teeth and hair, splashed his face with some water, and went downstairs. His parents were watching a movie in the living room.<p>

"We thought you'd never wake up!" Mrs. Vantas exclaimed. "You were lying dead in there."

"I thought you'd wake me up like you usually do."

"Well," Mr. Vantas said, "We thought we'd give you a break, since you've been working so hard and there's no lacrosse today."

"Thanks..." Karkat yawned and went to the fridge. He pulled five Eggo waffles out of the box in the freezer and crammed them into the toaster.

"Karkat?" His mother called. "Why was there a bed made up on the floor?"

"I don't know. I just wanted to sleep on the floor since it's getting hot out."

"I'll never understand teenagers." She sighed loudly.

When Karkat's breakfast was ready, some of the waffles still had cold spots, but he piled them on a plate anyway. He poured syrup over them and got himself a glass of milk, and ate by folding each waffle in half and eating it like a taco or something.

"Karkat?" Mrs. Vantas called again. "Kanaya called earlier. She wants you to come over around four-thirty." Oh.

When it began getting hot outside, Kanaya went out and decorated her room with a large number of flowers and other plants. Over the summer she would work on the rest of her house. Kanaya just really loved plants.

"Okay, I'll go."

Karkat finished his breakfast and changed into a pair of brown cargo shorts and a black t-shirt with a green slime monster on it. John had gotten it for his birthday to match his own. He wore it because he wasn't going to school. Otherwise... Okay, it really was a cool shirt.

Next, he hopped into his desk chair and logged back onto his laptop. He signed into Pesterchum and clicked on twinArmageddons.

carcinoGenetcist [CG] began pestering twinArmageddons [TA] at 16:21 –

CG: PAGING SOLLUX CAPTOR

CG: DO YOU FUCKING READ?

TA: kk, now really ii2n't the tiime two be botheriing me.

CG: HEY, I'M JUST CHECKING TO SEE IF YOU GOT HOME OKAY BUT IF YOU DON'T NEED ME TO LET ME ADD THAT I NEVER REALLY GAVE TWO SHITS.

CG: ANYWAY, WHY THE HELL ARE YOU ON THE COMPUTER IF YOU HAVE A GODDAMNED HANGOVER?

TA: my computer ii2 alway2 on, 2o ii deciided two an2wer you.

TA: ii could have ea2iily iignored you and gone back to lyiing here iin the dark.

CG: WAIT I FORGOT

CG: YOUR PARENTS?

TA: oh, them. they were already at work when ii got home, 2o ii'll ju2t make up 2ome biizarre liie two tell them when they get back, whiich ii2 really late.

TA: they work hard all day, and expect me to do the 2ame. iit 2uck2.

CG: IS THIS THE PART WHERE YOU TELL ME YOUR TERRIBLE LIFE'S STORY BECAUSE I REALLY DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT RIGHT NOW.

TA: you can't hear iit, dumba22.

CG: ;BARJBJ DGXOU;BGOAJDB;A;PIASDHAOUDFH;O'JIPADJLAHSJDASJDLASHLAHFUUUUU

TA: niice talkiing to you too.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased pestering twinArmageddons [TA] at 16:24 –

Karkat ran down the stairs so fast that he nearly tumbled to the bottom instead. He ran to the living room.

"Mom, can I take your car?"

"Wow, you finally want to drive yourself somewhere?"

"Mom."

"Fine! Just take it."

"Thanks Mom!" Karkat shouted as he grabbed the keys and ran out into the garage. He got into his mother's BMW (it was a weird story how she had gotten that car.), opened the garage door, turned on the ignition, and backed out. He changed the radio from his mother's crappy smooth jazz to his favorite station and cruised to Kanaya's house. He parked on the road in front of her house.

The front door opened before he could even knock. The girl who answered it was Rose Lalonde.

"Hello, Karkat." She said with a smile.

"Having a nice day, you Gothic lunatic Lalonde?" Karkat growled.

"Well, I certainly am having a better day than whatever crawled up your ass and died oh so long ago."

Karkat gently pushed her aside to enter the house. He walked straight into Kanaya's open bedroom door with Rose just on his heels.

Rose was Kanaya's close friend, as well as in Karkat's opinion, her perfect match. She was also his science teacher's daughter. Rose had short blonde hair and the darkest eyes that you could ever see on any human being. Her black lipstick matched quite well, and she had thick, full eyelashes that didn't need any enhancement with makeup. She was about three inches taller than Karkat, and wore a pretty black blouse with a purple skirt, black tights, black ballet flats, and a white headband on her head. Sure, she didn't dress like a creepy Gothic chick, but she sure had the dark personality to make up for it.

Rose was into literature, and wrote an abundance of homoerotic wizard fanfictions herself. Instead of paying attention during class, she would write away, not arousing any suspicion from her teachers. The only classes that truly mattered to her were English, French, and philosophy. Otherwise, she didn't really try.

A person just meeting Rose for the first time may see her as a bit rude, but after a while, the sassiness of her personality becomes welcoming. Rose was a great person. Really.

"Hey, Karkat," Kanaya sang. "You're four minutes late."

"The stupid blonde here was preventing me from getting through the front door."

"I'm sorry Kanaya, but I couldn't manage to scrounge up enough salt to prevent this demonic brute from entering your humble home." Rose snorted .

"I believe the proper term is a _male, _Rose." Kanaya laughed darkly. Rose did as well.

It was like a lesbian comedy club up in here.

"Will the two lovers please stop teasing the short sweaty boy and get fucking started on their work?" Karkat spat wile rolling his eyes. "You two are fucking unbelievable."

Rose began to say something else, but Kanaya gently shooshed her.

"Nobody ever told you that we were a couple. My mother would never allow it."

Rose nodded in agreement. Kanaya then pointed to the many, many containers of flowers and few trees lined up against her wall. The three of them got to work.

"So, Karkat," Kanaya asked, "How did it go last night?" She had that hard, 'I told you so' look in her eyes, though she could not yet give him that face.

"What happened?" Rose asked, interested. Karkat sighed angrily.

"If you guys _really _want to fucking know what happened at the stupid bar last night, fine! But if you're expecting a shitty fictional tale woven from the enchanted ass-strings of enchanted silk worms, a cum-filled classic about how we got punch-drunk and started grinding and pole dancing while some guy conveniently taped it to post it on the Internet, then you can fucking throw yourself out that window over there."

"Wait," Kanaya said, "So did that really happen?"

"No, Kanaya." Rose and Karkat both said. They looked at each other oddly before Karkat began telling them about what had happened the previous night.

–

A young man lies in agony in his room. We already know the name of this boy, but the author will add it again to avoid unnecessary confusion for the readers!

The boy's name is Sollux Captor, and he's lying in agony because he has a bad hangover.

Sollux lied in bed, hugging his laptop because he no longer felt like coding or anything. Karkat had just pestered him minutes prior, and even looking at the gray caps-locked words made him feel like he was being shouted at.

Sollux put his computer down and decided to think. The first thing- or person rather- that came to his mind was Karkat.

Sollux really liked Karkat. Though he seemed like he was a crabby, grumpy-assed kid who didn't get out much, he was cool. Sollux thought about how Karkat basically never smiled, and how he always looked angry or really annoyed. He thought about his messy yet neat brown hair, and how short he was compared to the other boys. He also thought about the bags under his eyes, and how thick his eyebrows were. In a way, Karkat was... Adorable.

Sollux thought about why Karkat didn't have a girlfriend. He was attractive, that was for sure, and judging from what Sollux had observed, Karkat was a really nice guy... If you knew him well. He seemed to have a lot of friends, too.

Sollux sighed. He wondered if Karkat even thought of him as a friend. He wouldn't be surprised if he didn't.

Sollux groaned into his pillow. His head was pounding, but he was hungry too. He didn't want to get up.

Why did life always have to be so complicated?

* * *

><p>Karkat, Kanaya, and Rose stood in front of the bedroom door, inspecting their work. They were all pretty proud of what they had done.<p>

"This is probably the prettiest my room has looked in years!" Kanaya exclaimed. "However..." Her eyes narrowed. "Karkat, see those flowers you placed on my windowsill?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, each of them needs to be slid to the right approximately three quarters of an inch."

"Are you fucking _kidding me, _Kanaya? I do not need this!"

"Just do it, Karkat." Karkat huffed angrily and went over to the window, where he slid each potted plant a little to the right.

"A little more." He moved them.

"Too much. Move them a bit to the left." He did.

"Left- no, actually, move them to the right."

"Hurry up already! God! What is this accomplishing for any of us, tell me that!"

"Nothing. They were fine from the start. Thanks for the extra help, Mr. Vantas." The two girls snickered. Karkat said nothing and stomped past them into the bathroom. He closed the door.

Rose and Kanaya stood in front of the door, speaking loudly so that he could hear them.

"Kanaya, do you think he raised the seat?"

"I hope so. The last thing we need is yellow piss puddles on the toilet seat to ruin our appetites."

"Even if you wipe it away, you can still feel the moisture seeping into your flesh, can't you?"

"And the stickiness when you stand up again." Karkat rolled his eyes and flushed the toilet.

"Do you think," Kanaya said, "He is going to forget to wash his hands?" Karkat rolled his eyes again as he turned faucet of the sink.

"I don't know. Some folk are just so _unsanitary, _you see?"

"Yes. So gross."

"I agree."

Karkat burst out of the bathroom and went to see if Mrs. Maryam needed any help with dinner. She said that she didn't, but he helped her anyway.

Soon, dinner was on the table, and the four were eating.

"I can't believe that school's ending next week." Mrs. Maryam said. "Are you guys ready for finals."

"No." said Kanaya.

"Not quite..." said Rose.

"_Hell _no." said Karkat. They all smiled.

For the next half hour, they all sat around the dinner table, talking about whatever or whoever came to mind, and had a very, _very _long argument about Dave Strider. He was a really interesting subject, as it turned out.

Before he left, both girls kissed him on the cheek, and laughed when he blushed. While he drove home, he thought about how great his friends were, and how glad he was to have them. But of course he would never say that to them.

Karkat just wasn't like that.


	10. WHAT A TWIST

I'm sorry for the wait, guys. I was busy with school ending, blogging, drawing, sleeping all day, etc. etc. etc.

Anyway, I hope the wait was worth it. This chapter is pretty long. I'm sorry if you find any errors, I'm rushing so I'm not caught online at 3 am.

Yes. This is where things get a bit.  
>Homoerotic.<p>

I hope you enjoy, you big perv!

* * *

><p>The next week passed very slowly. An entire week filled with finals.<p>

Finals finals finals.

On the last day, there was a lot of laughing, hugging, crying, and a bit of fighting and last minute revenge.

While Karkat had been walking out of the school, Tavros Nitram wheeled up to him. He seemed very excited about something.

"Hi Tavros." Karkat said. "Finally happy to be getting out of this fucking hellhole of a learning facility?"

"Well, yes, but, um," Tavros said. "That's not the only reason I'm happy!"

"Spit it out."

"Yeah, well, I uh, asked Vriska out again, Karkat!"

_What?_

"Why?" Karkat asked loudly. "Last time you asked that devious bitch out she fucking ruined your entire life! Why would you do it again?"

Tavros looked a little ashamed, but confident at the same time. "Karkat, you just don't understand! I really like her, and we all know that she's changed since then."

"The only reason she isn't in prison right now is because you begged for them to let her go!"

"And I don't regret making that decision at all." Tavros sighed. "Look, Karkat, I know that you think I'm crazy for doing this, and I appreciate your concern, but I already asked her out, and she already said yes."

Karkat simmered down a little. "Fine, but if you end up getting killed this time, I swear I'll shit on your grave."

Tavros pouted. "Disrespectful."

"I'm serious. But anyway, Tavros, I'll talk to her after school."

"Uhh, okay. Thanks Karkat!" Tavros waved and went off to his car.

When Karkat got home, his mother was waiting for him at the door.

"How was the last day? How were finals?"

"Boring. Easy."

Mrs. Vantas smiled and rolled her eyes. "Here's your phone back."

"Thanks mom," Karkat said. He took it and went up to his room. He closed his door and got onto his laptop. He logged onto Pesterchum and immediately began pestering Vriska Serket.

- carcinoGeneticist [CG] began pestering arachnidsGrip [AG] at 15:00 -

CG: ATTENTION SERKET.

CG: I SWEAR IF YOU DON'T RESPOND TO ME, EVERY MOMENT OF YOUR LIFE STARING NOW WILL BE A SCREAM FILLED NIGHTMARE, YOUR ELONGATED FACE SHOUTING TO THE HEAVENS AS YOUR PAINTED HANDS GRIP EACH SIDE OF YOUR FACE IN HORROR.

AG: Ugh, what the hell do you waaaaaaaant?

CG: I ******WANT** TO WARN YOU IN ADVANCE.

CG: I ALSO WANT TO ASK A QUESTION.

CG: WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING?

CG: WHY DID YOU AGREE TO GO OUT WITH THE TIMID BOY?

CG: YOU KNOW. THE ONE YOU NEARLY FUCKING KILLED?

CG: THAT RING ANY BELLS?

AG: Tavros?

CG: DING DONG DING DONG DONG DONG AND MORE EMPHASIS ON THE DONG.

CG: NO SHIT I'M TALKING ABOUT NITRAM.

AG: What do you really want to talk a8out? 8ecause I'm pretty sure I don't want to ready your shitty caps right now.

CG: ARE YOU PLANNING ON DOING ANYTHING TO HIM?

CG: THE INFAMOUS MISS SERKET IS ALWAYS PLANNING SOMETHING DEVIOUS, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO HANDICAP POKEMON BOYS.

AG: Fuck off, nu88y nose.

AG: I've ch8nged. Grown up.

AG: We were thirteen years old when the accident happened, and I was to immature to handle a simple invit8ion to 8ond.

AG: Especially with dum8 shy slam poets with a not very confident slouch and an experimental mohawk that looks like a skunk's ass. ::::/

CG: YOU MEAN TAIL?

AG: Whateeeeeeeever 8u88le 8utt.

CG: HEY. DON'T FUCKING JUDGE THE HINEY.

CG: IT'S GOT NICE SHAPE AND FEEL.

CG: BENEFITS OF PLAYING LACROSSE, YOU JUVENILE COCKSUCKER.

AG: H8y! Watch the l8nguage there cra8c8kes! ::::)

AG: Seriously though, you have a fine ass there, 8ro.

CG: THANKS.

CG: YOU'RE NOT SO BAD IN THE BOOB DEPARTMENT EITHER, VRISKA.

AG: I t8ke pride in my national treasure! :::;D

AG: Karkat.

AG: This is getting weird.

CG: YOU STARTED IT.

AG: Okay then.

AG: Enjoy your sweaty round ass this summer!

CG: DON'T KILL TAVROS THIS SUMMER.

AG: I just rolled my eyes. Just now, Karkat.

CG: RUDE.

- carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased pestering arachnidsGrip [AG] at 15:06 -

Karkat kind of sat there at his desk and sighed. He then knew what to do next.

- carcinoGeneticist [CG] began pestering terminallyCapricious [TC] at 15:08 -

CG: HI GAMZEE.

TC: HeY tHeRe BeSt fRiEnD! :o)

CG: DUDE.

CG: DID YOU HEAR ABOUT TAVROS AND VRISKA.

TC: YeAh, i DiD bRo.

CG: DOES IT KIND OF BOTHER YOU?

CG: I KNOW YOU LIKE HIM A LOT.

TC: I dOn'T MiNd rEaLlY.

TC: WhAtEvEr fLoAtS HiS mOtHeRfUcKiN bOaT MaN.

CG: ARE YOU SURE YOU'RE OKAY WITH IT?

TC: yEaH MaN iT's CoOoOoOoOoL.

TC: i NeVeR tOlD hIm HoW i FeLt AnYwAy So I gUeSs It'S mY oWn FaUlT.

TC: i ReAlLy HoPe ThE dUdE's HaPpY.

CG: DO YOU THINK VRISKA'S PLANNING ANYTHING?

TC: nAh, I tHiNk ShEs ClEaN.

TC: wE hUnG oUt A fEw TiMeS wHeN sChOoL wAs StIlL hApPeNiN

TC: sHe AiNt As ScArY aS sHe sEeMs. I uSeD tO bE aFrAiD oF hEr.

TC: ShEs AcTuAlLy P cHiLl.

TC: AwW mAn BrO i GoTtA gO.

CG: BYE GAMZEE.

- terminallyCapricious [TC] ceased pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG] at 15:12 -

Karkat sighed again. He felt a little bad for Gamzee. He had had a crush on Tavros for quite some time, but he had always been afraid of freaking him out if he told him how he felt.

Karkat also felt especially bad about not spending a lot of time with Gamzee, what with his family troubles. Karkat felt bad for not talking to a lot of his friends, especially when finals rolled around. He hadn't spoken to Equius or Nepeta or even Jade in quite a... Wait.

- twinArmageddons [TA] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG] at 15:14 -

TA: hey kk, gue22 what?

TA: you're comiing over two my hou2e.

CG: WHAT?

TA: can you not fuckiing read word2?

TA: are you an iilliiterate 2hiit who can't iinterpret a bunch of 2quiiggly 2ymbol2 on a computer 2creen whiich ii2 probably really crappy becau2e iit wa2n't cu2tomiized when you bought iit from the 2tore?

CG: SHUT UP.

TA: ii thought not.

TA: anyway, ii'll piick you up iin an hour.

TA: make 2ure you don't look liike 2hiit, okay?

CG: LOOK WHO'S TALKING, MANGA BOY.

TA: 2hut up and grow up, you 2hort liittle me22y-haiired priick.

CG: AT LEAST MY HAIR IS ONE FUCKING COLOR.

TA: oh yeah. we'll talk about that later. ii have a thiing or two planned.

TA: for later.

TA: and my parent2 are leaviing work late today 2o you can meet them.

CG: OH JOY.

CG: I'M SO FILLED WITH JOY THAT I COULD CHANGE MY NAMES TO JOY, ALL FUCKING THREE OF THEM AND YOU COULD HIT ME ON MY HEAD WITH A HAMMER OF JOY, AND GUESS WHAT?

CG: I'LL STILL BE SO JOYFUL IT'LL PUT SANTA TO SHAME.

TA: that'2 the 2piiriit!

CG: OKAY. SO NOW ME AND MY JOYFUL SELF ARE GOING TO SPIFFY UP FOR YOUR DUMB ASS.

CG: GOSH, I'M SO JOYFUL I COULD GO OUT IN MY BIRTHDAY SUIT.

TA: don't pu2h iit dude.

CG: HAHAHA OMFG ROTFL XDDDDD SERIOUSLY DOOD YOU CAN'T HANDLE MY T0000TAL RAMDOMN3SS AND JOYITUDE XDD

TA: you're giiviing me a headache.

CG: I AM TOO.

CG: BUT I GUESS I'LL GO TO YOUR FILTHY ABODE.

CG: DON'T BE FUCKING LATE AGAIN YOU PITSNIFFIING SCAT ADDICT.

TA: bunr.

- carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased pestering twinArmageddons [TA] at 15:20 -

Great. Now Karkat had to do things on the last day of school. Just great. Karkat didn't want to do things. He wanted to eat and watch movies for the next week straight, and this day was supposed to kick it off. But that plan had to change due to a certain Sollux Captor.

Karkat decided to change just to look fresh, though Sollux hadn't even come to school on the last day and he didn't know what you had worn to school. It was better than a sweaty tee shirt and cargos.

Though the outdoors are more scorching hot than a land made of heat and metal, he decided to throw on his black tee with his zodiac sign on it along with a pair of skinny jeans. He sighed into his mirror as he remembered the immature snickers the cancer symbol on his chest had earned from the kids at school. You had tried to explain at first, but after a whiled you figured that flipping them off was just as effective as talking to them. It also made you look less stupid.

When he got downstairs, his father was not yet home from work, and Mrs. Vantas was reading a book at the kitchen counter.

"Mom, a friend's going to pick me up soon. I don't know when I'll be back."

"I was going to make your favorite meal to celebrate the last day. Dad's bringing home the ingredients right now!"

Karkat thought for a moment. "Can he have dinner with us, maybe?"

Mrs. Vantas thought for a moment. "Who exactly are you going to hang out with?"

"Sollux Captor."

"... I don't remember him. But I guess he can stay. And are you going out in those jeans?"

"Yeah, he um, said that his parents really like to keep the house cold and, you know,"

"I see." She went back to reading her book. Karkat glanced at the cover. _50 Shades of Gray. _He shuddered.

Karkat went to watch TV in the living room while he waited, and this time, Sollux was not late. He was about two minutes early, actually.

When Karkat and Mrs. Vantas went to the door, they were greeted by a Sollux dressed in a black button-down shirt with rolled up sleeves, a silver tie, and a pair of skinny jeans.

"My, my!" Mrs. Vantas exclaimed. "What a cutie!"

"Mom!" Karkat barked, embarrassed. All Sollux could do is mumble "Thanks,"

"Well, I hope you two have fun!" She said, "And don't overheat in those jeans."

"We won't." Sollux said. "Let's go, KK!" He said with mock-enthusiasm.

Mrs. Vantas snorted. Karkat rolled his eyes, pulled on his sneakers, pecked his mom on the cheek, and was out the door.

"Your mom's nice." Sollux lisped.

"Sure, okay. Try living with her." Karkat shielded his eyes from the sun. "How long is the walk from here?"

"About twenty-five minutes." Karkat nodded.

"Question for you," Karkat asked Sollux after a brief pause. "How the hell do you manage to get past each grade?" Sollux laughed in response.

"Oh KK, someone as smart as you should be able to figure this out." Karkat just looked at him.

"It's simple, really. You learn after a while that the school really doesn't give a shit. You also learn that you have to be cautious with how many days you skip and shit like that."

"And how exactly do you do that?" Karkat asked, a little interested.

"Well, let's just out is this way. At the beginning of the year, you can't really skip, or they may notice. During that time, I actually do some work, but don't participate in class."

"How come I never noticed you then?"

"That, KK, is due to nothing more than sheer stupidity." Sollux smirked, and Karkat frowned.

"Anyway," Sollux continued. "Around the holidays is when I start not showing up most days, or coming in for my computer classes in the morning."

"How do they not see you leave?"

Sollux shrugged. "It takes practice."

"I just decided that don't want to know how you do that. Just keep talking, you slacking bum."

"Okay, so during April, that's when I can go crazy and just not go to school at all most days. I get to sleep, eat, and go on the computer all day."

"Wow." Karkat looked at Sollux's skinny legs and flat stomach.

"Chekin' me out, hmm? I have a really fast metabolism."

"Good for you."

They walked for a couple of minutes in silence, and Karkat realized the direction they were heading in.

In the town where he lived, there were basically three sections. There was downtown, where there were shops, restaurants, and small houses. Then there was the suburb, which basically took up most of the town. That's where Karkat lived. Then, as you continued north, there were the rich peoples' homes. Karkat and Sollux were heading north.

"Wow, um, Sollux, are we going to the rich people section or town?"

"Um, I guess you could call it that."

"Why?" Oh God. Big mistake.

"Because I live there?" Sollux both looked and sounded offended. "What, do you think just because I look or act a certain way or something, I'm poor or whatever?"

"No, I mean it's-"

"No, no KK, let me finish." Sollux was clearly not happy. "Just because I skip school a lot and dress like I'm from a Japanese music video half the time means that my family doesn't do well? Because you're wrong. Hey look! The manga boy can't have a good life! You can't just make assumptions about people like that."

"Now you wait just a second," Karkat snapped. "For people, making assumptions is just a natural thing. We all judge, so don't act like you're the one exception or something."

"I'm not isaying/i that I'm an exception!" Sollux's lisp was making little drops of spit fly into the air. He was angry. "I'm just saying that you were wrong to ask why."

"I know I was wrong to ask why!" Karkat shouted. "Obviously, people have made that assumption about you before, since I never said any of that." He was calming down now.

"Yeah," Sollux sounded weak. "When I was dating AA, uh, Aradia, I mean, she kind of guessed the same thing." Sollux was flushed now. "FF- Feferi, I mean, lives down the street from me, so she had seen my house plenty of times."

"Oh, uh." Karkat swallowed. "This is really stupid. Let's not talk about it."

Sollux shrugged. The two continued their way with uncomfortable silence filling the air around them.

After a minute or two, they saw two massive mansions coming into view. The Zahhak's and the Leijon's. Equius Zahhak was helping Nepeta ride one of his horses in his front yard. The two rushed over when they saw Karkat and Sollux.

"Hi, Karkitty!" Nepeta gushed. Sollux snickered, earning a stomp on the foot.

"Watch it, those shoes were expensive!" Sollux hissed. Karkat ignored him.

"Hey Nepeta, Equius." Nepeta waved and Equius nodded without a trace of a smile. He helped her dismount.

Nepeta Leijon was a short girl with short brown hair that curled around her face. She was half Taiwanese, half French, and had moved from Canada in the first grade. Since she had lived there, she had had a massive crush on Karkat. She started expressing it around 8th grade, when she would come to his locker between classes to flirt. Karkat had been gentle with her, (she's a girl, numbnuts!) but still shoo'd her off nonetheless. Nepeta really liked cats a lot, and she and Feferi got together sometimes because of their shared love for animals. She wants to be a vet when she grows up, surprisingly. Due to her love for cats, Nepeta was picked on a lot in school. All throughout middle school, she wore a blue kitty hat all day, every day, which made it even worse. Nepeta also like to ship the kids in school, and even drew pictures of them and hung them on her bedroom wall. She isn't a very talented artist, quite ironically. Nepeta also liked to hunt with her father.

She was a sweet and energetic girl, and Karkat actually liked her a lot. Just not _that_ way. Karkat didn't think he could handle that.

Equius, on the other hand, is very different from her. He was tall, muscular, and had dark brown hair that went down to his upper back. Along with expensive rectangular shades. Equius spent hours a day lifting weights or practicing his MMA, and Nepeta liked to help him with that a lot. Because of his constant exercise habits, he had the tendency to sweat a lot. He was also "e%ceptionally" gifted in robotics, and went over-the-top with his projects, earning him international recognition. Rumors said he had built a robot that may have been a replica or a friend of his, but nobody really knew, and Nepeta wouldn't tell. Equius was very polite towards adults and Karkat, since Karkat was their team leader in their history class. Equius also practically drank a gallon of milk every day during lunch.

His parents own a horse breeding farm, and the Zahhaks are pretty much _loaded_. They even own a couple of cows.

The Zahhaks and the Leijons have been extremely close for such a long time, people thought that they some kind of weird siblings or some shit. Because Nepeta was picked on so much in school, Equius would protect her from the idiots who tormented her. Her parents adored him, and his parents adored her, though Nepeta was a little afraid of Equius to be honest. Despite that, they got along quite well. Nepeta would help out on the farm and work with the animals, and sometimes the two would have tea parties, and Equius would pretend that it wasn't embarrassing. They were really cute.

"Where are you two going?" Asked Nepeta curiously.

"Just to his house," Karkat replied, sticking a thumb out at Sollux. Nepeta seemed to just notice Sollux there.

"Hi, Sollux." She said rather plainly.

"Sup." Sollux said blandly. Nepeta didn't say what was up.

"Well, I hope you two have fun, I guess. Unless Karkitty's going to study for next year's exams!"

"Excuse me, that was offensive." Karkat said.

"It's true, though!" Nepeta pouted. "You never seem to have enough time to hang out with us."

"If it makes you feel any better, I'll hang out with you this summer if you want."

"Well, um," Nepeta averted her eyes away from Karkat's. "In a couple of weeks, I'm going to meet up with some family in Canada, and from there we're going to Taiwan for the rest of the summer."

"We can hang out before then, I guess."

"Okay!" Nepeta smiled. "Is Equius okay with that?" They all looked to Equius, who was staring at Karkat somewhat blankly.

"It's fine. As long as he refrains from spewing his filthy language when I'm around. It's disgusting." And he went back to being silent. And creepy. Oh so creepy.

"Let's go, KK." Sollux said after a few seconds. They four waved goodbye, and Sollux and Karkat were on their way once again.

"You actually like them?" Sollux asked, a little bewildered.

"You don't?" Karkat asked. Sollux didn't respond.

In a few minutes, they were standing in front of a huge hill with a huge brick house at the top. In the middle of the front lawn, there was a brick fountain and a flagpole, an American flag flapping gently in the lazy summer breeze.

It was absolutely magnificent.

"There's a pool out back, but I hate swimming so..." Sollux mumbled. "Let's go." Karkat nodded.

The hike up the hill was a little tiring, but the view from the top was worth it. You could basically see the entire town from the top. It was beautiful, and Karkat guessed it was even better at night.

Sollux rang the doorbell, and the sound of bells rung throughout the home. A tall, professionally dressed brunette woman answered the door, a tall handsome, professionally dressed brunette man standing behind her.

"Hi, honey!" She beamed. "Is this your friend?"

"Yeah, mom. This is Karkat, uh, Vantas." Karkat shook her hand, and then the man's.

"We have to go soon, but I'm sure Sollux can make you two some lunch." The man said with a brilliant white smile.

"Dad," Sollux said. "You know I can't make food for shit."

"Well, you're going to have to learn. Karkat, critique my son's shitty food for me, will you?" He asked said jokingly.

"Sure thing." Karkat said. Wow. So his parents let him swear and swore along with him openly. This was like television.

"You boys can go up to Sollux's room. Honey, show him the way." Mrs. Captor said to Sollux.

"No, Mom, I'm just going to leave Karkat here on the front step while I go up to my room and enjoy the air conditioning."

"Our son is so rude." Mrs. Captor joked. "You boys have fun." Mr. and Mrs. Captor went out the front door, and the two boys went in. Karkat was astonished. There was a massive chandelier hanging on the high ceilings, and it made the entire room shine like gold. The entire place was like an Italian palace.

"Leave your shoes at the door." Sollux said. When they did, Karkat followed him to the second floor. There was a long, golden hallway, lined with lights and family photos.

Sollux had been awfully cute when he was a kid.

"I know it's a bit much for a family of three, but my parents are really social. It sucks." Sollux said. He opened a door at the end of the hall, and they went in.

"Welcome to my chill space." Karkat looked around him.

The room had two red walls and two blue walls. There was a desk on the right side of the room with a dual screened computer, along with two laptops. All over the floor, there were half assembled computers, parts for computers, and tools lying around.

There were also a few anime posters on the wall, a plushie or figurine here or there. It wasn't what Karkat was expecting at all. Sollux went over and opened his blinds.

"What do you think?"

"I think you like computers."

Sollux snorted. "I don't _like_ computers, I love them. I'm a fucking expert, KK."

Karkat sat on the bed, looking around.

"I was expecting it to be a a little more anime-y, I guess." He said. Sollux sat down beside him.

"I prefer not to go all out," Sollux said. "I'm not a weeb."

"Thought not."

"Before we get all cozy and shit, I'm gonna get us something to eat. Do you like peanut butter and Nutella?"

"Sure as hell I like it." Karkat replied. Sollux went downstairs to make their lunch.

Karkat took the opportunity to poke around Sollux's room. He inspected the computer parts, and the complicated looking programming on the monitor of the desktop computer. So Sollux did C++. Cool.

Karkat looked at ht posters, and none of the anime displayed were ones he had heard of. In middle school, Karkat had preferred to stick to the things they showed on Toonami. He didn't go on the Internet to watch subbed anime or anything. Karkat shuddered, thinking about his phase as a closet-weeb.

When Karkat was walking over to the bookshelf, a board on the wood floor wiggled a bit in its spot. The pattern was also going in the wrong direction. Karkat decided to try and lift it up, and it popped right out of the floor. Karkat looked inside and oh sweet lord there was manga porn in there.

Still a bit anxious, Karkat decided to sift through the books. God, he needed to sanitize after this. Some volumes were gay manga porn, some were lesbian, and some were het. All of them were creepy. Karkat held one of the yaoi books in his hand, and looked at the cover.

"Yaoi hands, I swear." He muttered to himself as he put it down. Karkat quickly replaced the wooden board and sat back on the bed, feeling a bit guilty. He looked out the window. The sky was darkening, and he thought he heard a rumble outside.

Shit. Karkat hated thunderstorms. Now Sollux was coming upstairs. He entered the room with... Two dessert dishes... Filled with peanut butter and Nutella.

"Here." Sollux said as he handed Karkat a bowl and a spoon. "Eat up."

Karkat just looked at him for a moment. Sollux wasn't joking.

"The fuck is this?" Sollux shrugged.

"We're out of bread." Karkat wasn't hungry anymore. "So," he decided to say after staring at the pasty shit in the dessert dish. "Why are you dressed up today?"

"I had a graduation to go to. Some stupid son of my parents' friends. I don't even know the kid."

Sollux ate his some pasty sugary cow shit. Thunder boomed in the distance. Karkat shuddered. Sollux noticed, and smirked.

"Afraid of a little storm, I see." He scrunched his face up in amusement.

"I am not!" Karkat shouted defensively. More thunder. This time Karkat jumped. Sollux laughed.

"Shut y-your fucking slop p-pipe!" Karkat demanded, shaking slightly.

"I didn't say anything!" Sollux was laughing even harder, and seemed to be on the verge of tears. There was a flash a lightning, a pause, and a great boom of thunder that shook the foundation of the house. Karkat shook with it. Sollux looked at him looking amused, but with a feeling of empathy for his friend.

Sollux edged closer to Karkat.

"Are you okay, KK?" He asked, completely serious. More thunder crackled outside.

"No, I am not fucking okay." Karkat huffed, not looking very pleased at all.

"I see. Well, here comes doctor Sollux, coming to heal your affliction."

"What-" And next thing he knew, Sollux's arms were around Karkat.

"Dude, what the fucking hell? This is so gay." Sollux only shushed him. And Karkat didn't fight him because wow did this feel nice. Karkat leaned into Sollux more and closed his eyes. The storm outside didn't matter. He felt safe in his friend's arms, and though he knew that this was a bit wrong, it was all right. When Karkat was getting comfortable, he felt Sollux move away from him.

"Hey-" was all Karkat could get out before Sollux's lips collided into his.


	11. He's in Love

hey, it's finally here! sorry it took so lone, and apologize for any errors in spelling! i hope you enjoy!

i have to go

* * *

><p>Karkat was so shocked that he didn't know what the hell he was supposed to feel. Sure, it felt wrong but <em>oh god it felt so right.<em> Sollux's kiss literally tasted like an elementary school lunch and Karkat loved it.

So that was it. Karkat decided to go with it. The two sat, tangled in each others' arms, leaning into each other, and trying to intensify the kiss. The only sounds that could be heard were the rumble of thunder and slight gasps and moans.

Sollux's long fingers pulled at Karkat's soft messy hair, while Karkat's soft stubby fingers pulled at the smooth fabric of Sollux's dress shirt.

Sollux began to press himself into Karkat even more, but Karkat gently pushed him away. Before Sollux could quirk an eyebrow at him, Karkat began to undo to top buttons of his shirt. His hands ran up and down Sollux's chest, making both of them shudder. Karkat began undoing more buttons before Sollux moved Karkat's hands and broke the kiss.

Karkat nodded his apology, and the two just kind of sat there. Karkat folded his hands in his lap and stared at his trembling wrists.

"So I guess you really like me, h-huh?" Karkat asked, shaken from the storm outside and his first homogay lovey romantic make out session.

Sollux just nodded. After a bit, he said,

"You know dude, that was pretty gay." He laughed nervously. He sounded like he was going to be sick all over the place.

"Shit dude, I was fucking seeing rainbows." Karkat replied, smirking now.

"KK, I swear to God your mouth tastes like a packet of Sour Skittles. Taste the rainbow. You are Skittles, KK."

"I'm fucking sorry for that then."

"Don't be. You goddamned Lickitung." Both boys snorted, one humorously and the other not.

Sollux looked around him, as if someone would be listening, and then stared straight at the door.

"I'll be back in a minute." He said quietly.

Sollux hurried out of the room and Karkat listened to his feet pat down the hallway. It was time for another round of snoop around Sollux's bedroom.

"Let's play a game," Karkat muttered to himself. He wondered where that had come from. He shrugged and got up. Then, he looked around and decided to go through Sollux's closet. He opened the door, and Karkat could not believe his eyes. The were four whiteboards stuck to the inside of the closet door, and equations and notes that Karkat could not even begin to comprehend were scribbled in Expo markers of red, blue, and black.

So, Sollux was smarter than he looked. He kept it a secret alright. But boy, was this amazing. Karkat caught himself trying to understand what was written there, but couldn't quite get himself to...

"So, you found my little ol' scribble board, I see." Sollux's voice said from a few feet away. Karkat nearly jumped out of his skin.

Karkat spun on his heels. "Well _that _was fucking fast! Don't ever do that again or you'll regret the very syllables that spill from your protein chute, you turd." He spat, scowling and crossing his arms.

"Says the guy who comes into my house and goes through my stuff. Nice try KK, but I know you were rummaging around in here. The evidence is pretty obvious." So he knew. Oh well.

"I'm sorry," Karkat apologized, genuinely ashamed with himself.

"It's fine. Wanna see more crap I wrote?" Sollux pulled two thick binders filled with lined paper from his bookshelf and put them in Karkat's arms. He then closed his room door, revealing two more white boards.

"Wow," Karkat said, astonished, "How often do you write those?"

"I usually keep them until I start something new. I'm serious about being a computer expert, you know. That's why I've never been held back. I'm a freakin' genius." Sollux was completely serious when saying that, so Karkat didn't laugh. A little confidence was fine. As long as it didn't get too out of hand...

Karkat put the binders down on the desk and sat down on the desk chair.

"I code a little myself, you know." Karkat said while spinning himself in a circle. He could already feel himself growing nauseous, but it felt really good as well.

"You do?" Sollux looked at Karkat, his nicely shaped eyebrows raised with interest.

"Yeah," Karkat's thick eyebrows scrunched together. "I suck at it though."

"You do? Do you do C++?" Sollux asked.

"I _try. _But alas, I can not code for the sake of my own sweet ass." Karkat spun himself in half circles, his chin resting oh the head of the chair.

"I can show you how." Sollux says, turning on the monitor for one of his computers.

"I know how to code, idiot!" Karkat spits. "I just don't... Remember a lot of things. That's it."

"Come on, it'll be fun." Sollux says, smirking.

"As fun as our make out session?"

"Not quite."

For the next few hours, Sollux and Karkat bonded over coding, video games, and really dumb arguments that didn't make a lot of sense. Karkat was legitimately enjoying himself, which really happened when he was with certain people. Karkat even introduced Sollux to the majority of his friends, and talked about them. Sollux and Dave had a few heated arguments, and after Dave dumped him with a weak burn, Sollux had said that he hated Dave. Good. That signaled that the two would be good friends in the future.

When Karkat had to leave, the two kind of stood in front of the door for a few minutes.

"I'll invite you over next time, if I can." Karkat said, gentle drops of rain hitting his round nose.

"Sure," Sollux said. He scratched his head. "Uh, KK?"

"What?" Then, Sollux leaned down and kissed Karkat's soft lips again. This time, it was not awkward or sudden. It was perfect.

Karkat thought about kissing Sollux the entire time he walked home.

–

-carcinoGeneticist [CG] began pestering grimAuxillatrix [GA] at 19:08-

CG: I HAVE A THING I HAVE TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT

CG: IT'S PRETTY FUCKING IMPORTANT SO LISTEN UP.

GA: Karkat

GA: Did Sollux Kiss You

CG: A CERTAIN BOY

CG: WAIT WHAT HOW THE HELL DID YOU KNOW?

GA: Well I Remember Last Year I Was Having Computer Troubles

GA: So Aradia Kindly Told Me That Sollux Was Good At That Kind Of Stuff

GA: And He Did An Excellent Job

GA: Well It Turns Out He Remembered Me From Then And Asked Me For Advice Just A Couple Of Days Ago

GA: And I Told Him To Just Kiss You When You Seemed Calm

CG: WELL I SURE AS HELL WASN'T CALM.

GA: Did You Hurt Him Karkat

CG: NO. IT WAS THE BEST KISS EVER IN THE HISTORY AND FUTURE OF EVERYTHING.

CG: WAIT WHY THE FUCK WOULD I HURT HIM.

CG: I DON'T HURT NOBODY FOR NOTHIN.

GA: It Was Your First Kiss Ever

CG: SILENCE YOUR LIES. I KISSED BOTH JOHN AND TEREZI SO SHUT UP.

GA: They Were Pecks

CG: EMOTIONAL PECKS. AND THE ONE WITH JOHN WAS A BET.

GA: My Point Exactly

GA: Pecks Dont Count You Know That Karkat

CG: I'M DONE. TALK TO YOU LATER, MARHAM.

GA: What A Burn

-carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased pestering grimAuxillatrix [GA] at 19:11-

Karkat closed the lid of his laptop and rolled off of his bed, landing with a heavy _thud! _He had always known that he was bisexual, but he hadn't planned on dating anytime soon. Heck, he didn't think anybody had an crush on him! Except for maybe Terezi, but it was weird between them.

Then, the serious thoughts began to pour in. What if his parents were homophobes? What about Sollux's parents? Karkat put his face in his hands.

What if their parents kept them from seeing each other? Karkat didn't want to think about any of that, but the thoughts just poured in and he just couldn't stop them. The dam couldn't be sealed. So Karkat fell asleep of the floor.

–

When Karkat awoke, it was nearly ten o-clock, and he was hungry. He lurched up from where he had had slept. His dreams had been troubling and just thinking of them made him sick. Karkat headed downstairs.

Karkat entered his favorite room in the house, the kitchen, and grabbed a soda and some of his mom's pita chips. He sat down and began wolfing down the food as if he had been stuck in the Labyrinth for weeks without a bite to eat. With his mouth full, he whipped out his cell phone and punched Gamzee's number in. Gamzee picks up after the first ring, as usual.

"What goes on, Karkat?" He hums into the phone. His low voice is soothing, even over the phone. But he was still annoying as hell.

"Hey Gamzee. If you want to know _what goes on _in Karkat's stupid fucking pathetic troubled life, I suggest you let me come over and talk things over. I really need to, and since Eridan and I are..." His voice kind of fades away and he's thinking about the hard times he and Eridan got through together. Sometimes he really missed the guy, but he was too much to handle at the moment, and you were seriously tired of dealing with his bullshit.

"Alright then, you can montherfuckin' head on over. We can slam some wicked elixir and we can chill and talk and calm ourselves down and settle some shit." He drones on. Karkat wonders if he's tired, but mentally bonked himself on the head because that's how Gamzee always sounded.

Karkat crept upstairs and put his ear to his parent's door to check if they were asleep. He was guessing they were, so he pulled on his sneakers and headed out.

It was a warm night, and the walk to Gamzee's house was pretty short, so Karkat enjoyed it. The clouds in the night sky put comically spooky face on the surface of the moon, and as he walked, Karkat searched for constellations. It was a bit difficult because of the drifting clouds, but he smiled when he finally spotted his favorite constellation, Cancer. For some reason he felt personally connected to it. He didn't know how, but he just did.

When Karkat reached the home of Gamzee's grandparents, he walked around the back. Only he knew that the door leading to the basement was always unlocked, and when he opened up the rusty cellar doors and descended down the stairs, his friend was waiting for him with open arms.

"Hi there Karkat," Gamzee said softly. He waved him over and they sat on the bed. When Karkat plopped onto the messy crumb covered covers, a loud _honk! _sounded from under his rump. He nearly jumped out of his skin, and with a trembling hand, he pulled the horn from under his butt and tossed it to the ground. Gamzee began to rub his head to get him to stop shaking, and though Karkat hated it, it was working. It also felt kind of nice.

"You talk first, and I'll be all covered in ears, soaking up your motherfuckin' words like a well-mannered sponge, bro." Gamzee says, and Karkat smirks, then sighs.

"Gamzee, you know Sollux, right. The skinny nerdy anime guy with the fucked up glasses?" Gamzee nods, and Karkat continues. "Well, we kind of... Made out earlier. It was a fucking amazing kiss that shot my brain to Loner Boner Island in the sea of fucking Nowhere. It was amazing and I want to do it a billion times over and over again but I don't know if I can. That's Karkat's deal."

Gamzee seemed to mull over this for a moment before speaking.

"Tell me, Karkat. What's stopping you?" He looked at Karkat with his half-lidded eyes. He was wearing his face paint, and Karkat felt as if he was revisiting an old friend. Karkat pulled his knees to his chest and breathed into the fabric of his pants. He then put his chin on his arms.

"What if my parents are homophobic, or what about his parents? What if his parents don't fucking like me? What if my parents find out that I'm dating _Sollux _of all people? Shit, what if-"

"Hey, hey! Settle down now, let's take this one easy step at a fuckin' time." Karkat takes a moment to cool off, and Gamzee rubs his back. It's soothing, and Karkat closes his eyes. It had been a long day, and he began to feel sleepy.

"Now first of all, do you know what your parents think of all this homosexual noise?" Gamzee asked. Karkat took a while to think. It hadn't been something his parents talked much about. Actually, he couldn't remember if he had ever hear them discuss it at all.

"I don't know. I don't think they'd be cool with it." Karkat opened his eyes and bit his lip. "I think they dream of having this flawless son who becomes some kind of academic legend or medical marvel, and every time I do something wrong, they think it'll cost me my future or something." Karkat heaved a sigh, and Gamzee continued to rub his back in a circular motion.

"I mean, I've never dealt with this before. Remember when I had a crush on John a few years back?"

"Yeah, you embarrassed yourself pretty badly that year." Gamzee chuckled. Karkat glared at him and hissed a "Fuck you" before continuing whatever he had been saying.

"_Yeah_, well this is a lot different. I think I'm actually in _love _with him. I never felt this way about John or Terezi or _anyone. _It's kind of scary, now that I'm the one experiencing it opposed to someone else." Karkat closed his eyes again. A huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, and though he felt a bit better, there was still a ton of stuff he needed to get out of him.

"You know," Gamzee laughed. "You're usually the one to come to when it comes to romance..." He sounded focused, but judging by his eyes, his mind was somewhere else.

"Isn't that what I just fucking said?" Karkat snarled, getting himself a bit worked up again. It was just late. He was getting crankier each passing moment. Gamzee just nodded and put his hand on Karkat's knee.

"What else are you concerned about, brother? His motherfuckin' parents or something? You think they won't like you?" Gamzee asked. Karkat nodded slowly.

"Did you do or say something you regret to them?"

"...No."

"Then why are you worried about them?" Karkat furrowed his eyebrows.

"I'm worried because everybody fucking hates me." Karkat buried his face in his arms.

"Aww, _shit _bro, are you yankin' my motherfuckin' chain?" Gamzee chuckled, amused by his friend's comment. Karkat lifted his head up and shook it furiously.

"What the fuck is there to like about me? I'm a stupid midget that has a third arm that grew from my ass and constantly punches my brain. I treat my friends like fucking sod and I can't live up to my promises. I have a fucking temper like an active volcano on a freaking sun that's not in this _universe, _and I have no patience whatsoever. I'm stupid and filthy and I want to curl up into a ball and eat myself. I just want to boil in a pot and they can serve me at a crab shack with the rest of my kind. Idiotic, piss-drinking _smelly _crabs." Wow. That _had _to be a new low.

"Wow," Gamzee muttered. "That was _definitely _a new low for you Karcrabs."

"Do _not _call me Karcrabs, Gamzee Ma_carcass._" Karkat hissed. He really needed to recharge. Karkat was running on reserve power, and it didn't function nearly as well as the natural energy he usual relied on.

"Come on, why do you think you're so horrible? I mean, think about it for a minute or two. You have a bunch of friends that love you and your attitude, and if it wasn't for you, most of us probably wouldn't know each other. Everybody at school likes you, and you're a motherfuckin' top notch leader."

Karkat pondered that for a moment. He thought about it and thought about it, but just grunted in response.

"Whatever, man."

Gamzee ran a hand through his hair, pulled out a box of cigarettes and a lighter, and lit it. When he exhaled, Karkat watched the blue smoke swirl into nothing.

"Now tell me," Gamzee said, even more content than he was before. "Tell me all about your motherfuckin' tangle buddy."

The corner of Karkat's lip twitched, but he was much too tired to smile. "He's not my tangle buddy, you moron." Karkat moved and rested his head on Gamzee's shoulder. "Well, he's an annoying nerdy conceited dicktip, and he think's he so cool and smart. Which he is. He is a genius and a computer expert and he's _really _good looking." Karkat couldn't believe what he was saying. Saying what was on his mind was a bit nerve-wracking, but he felt so great talking about Sollux Captor. "He also has a lot of really cool cosplays and manga. I think he gets really moody sometimes, but when we're together, he seems fine. He's also really dorky and awkward sometimes." Karkat looked up at Gamzee, who was smiling.

"What is it?" Karkat asked, a bit alarmed and upset.

"Because, Bro, you're head-over-fuckin' heels in love."


	12. Damn

hey, sorry this took so long! i know the chapter is lengthy, but i had fun with this one! and as some of you may know, i am currently writing another fic as well as one i'm personally writing for my friend, so in order to balance that out, patience is key. _also, spot the reference from my other fic. do it._  
>also, i would love to get this out of my system.<br>WHY DID I THINK IT WAS A GOOD IDEA TO MAKE GAMZEE A SUPER CHRISTIAN AND SOLLUX AN ANIME FAN OH DEAR GOD  
>(insert hilarious pun about fic's title)<br>enjoy.

*EDIT: i fixed up some typos and changes in the tense. i'm so sorry about that!

* * *

><p>Karkat didn't realize he was asleep until his phone vibrated in the middle of the night. He looked at the glowing screen.<p>

Oh shit.

It was his dad. Eyes wide in horror, Karkat answers his phone.

"...Hello?"

"Karkat, where the _hell _are you?" His dad was practially _screaming _into the phone. He was anrgy out of his mind. Karkat can almost feel the flames spewing from his father's mouth and melting the phone. He waited for a peep from Karkat.

"I'm, uh, at a friend's house."

"Which _friend? _I swear to God if you're with that freaky Sollux kid-"

"No!" Karkat interrupts. He was horrified. Neither of his parents knew about Gamzee, and now would not be the time to introduce him to them.

"...I'm with a guy from school..." Karkat finishes. His heart was beating faster than a speedy blue hedgehog. Gotta go fast. _Gotta go fast._

"Karkat, your mom told me about you going to Sollux's house, and though she likes him, I don't think-"

"Dad, you don't even fu- know him! He's a really great guy and you shouldn't just judge him without knowing him. Anyway, this has nothing to do with him." Karkat sighed. This was one of the worst moments of his teenage life. His parents would never trust him again. The Vantas household would once again become a dictatorship.

"Karkat, get your ass back home right now! We have a _lot _of discussing to do. Have your friend walk you over." His dad hangs up, and Karkat hangs his head. He grinds his teeth and chucks his phone across the room, and it cracks against the hard basement wall. It's _this _that wakes Gamzee up, and he rests his chin on the edge of the bed. He had taken the floor after tucking him into bed, Karkat assumed from the sheet covering his knees.

"What's up bro?" Gamzee asked sleepily. "Are you about to throw a motherfuckin' fit up in here?"

Karkat realized that he almost _did _throw a tantrum, and he immediately felt bad. He didn't want to cause Gamzee a lot of trouble. He told Gamzee what had happened, and was relieved to see that his friend wasn't upset in the least.

Gamzee went up to wash his face, came back down, and wrapped an arm around Karkat's shoulder.

Together, they headed for Karkat's house, where the two-headed dragon awaited, hungry for its next meal.

The two boys each sat down on a chair in the kitchen. Mrs. Vantas was in the living room, sitting on the couch with her head in her hands. She was probably asleep. Mr. Vantas, however, was very much awake.

"First of all, Karkat, introduce your friend to me." He said angrily.

"This is Gamzee." Karkat said so easily that it surprised himself. Gamzee waved a little, and Mr. Vantas shot him a look. It wasn't disapproval, but it was certainly a look.

"Gamzee and I have been friends for a really long time now. He's a pretty amazing friend." Karkat chewed his lip, and glanced at Gamzee. He was giving him this slightly wide-eyed look, and Karkat knew exactly why. He had never told Gamzee how great of a friend he was, not even to his face.

Mr. Vantas crossed his arms.

"Why didn't Mom and I know about him until tonight?" Karkat saw the flames in his father's eyes. All he wanted to do was sleep right now. Sleep and never wake up. Or perhaps be constricted to death. That would be a lot better than _this. _

Why didn't his father just go ahead and kill him already?

"Come on Karkat, we don't have all morning."

Shit. Lying wasn't exactly Karkat's forte when he was under pressure. He would have to clear his mind and think fast. _Clear his damn mind and think really freakin' fast._

"It's because Gamzee... U-" He stopped himself before he let himself say _uh. Uh _was a horrible and illegal thing to let slip while lying. Everybody knows that.

"Gamzee goes away a lot." Weak but it would have to do. Karkat was almost overjoyed when Gamzee decided to play along.

"You see, Mr. Vantas, I live with my grandparents sometimes, but I'm up and tossed all over the place if you know what I mean... It's a bit mo... more complicated than it sounds." Gamzee looked as calm as ever. His eyelids lowered even more when Karkat's father accepted their lie.

"Alright Mr..."

"Makara,"

"...Mr. Makara. You can go home now. Sorry for dragging you out of your house at such an hour. Make sure to tell your parents what happened." Mr. Vantas had completely simmered down.

Gamzee nodded, waved, and quickly headed out the door. As soon as the front door shut, the tension in the room rose up about 300%. The tension was so thick that you could suck it up with a straw. Karkat gulped.

"What were you thinking? What were you _doing? Drugs? _I frikkin' hope not, Karkat!" Mr. Vantas seemed sad now, and he pressed his palm to his forehead.

"No..." Karkat mumbled.

"Then what were you doing?"

"Just talking, seeing a friend."

"Why this time of night?"

"...I really wan- needed to talk. Friends troubles."

"Why didn't you come to us first?"

"Dad, they're friend troubles. I'm having _friend troubles." _

Mr. Vantas sighed and shook his head. He had his "kids these days" look on his face, mixed in with his "I'm too tired to go on" look too, and Karkat feels really bad.

The things he put his parents through. He fucking hated it.

He was fucking disgusted by himself. Fuck fuck fuck.

_Go die, Karkat you stupid asshole. _Was all Karkat could think. _Maybe your parents could get get a less asswrenchingly stupid kid._

"Okay, Karkat, I'm done. Here's the deal. Give me your phone and your computer. You're not allowed to leave the house on your own for the next 3 weeks. You mom and I'll talk more. Get the hell to your bed and _stay there._"

Karkat only nodded and trudged up to his room. He banged his head on a bar of his bed. _Hard. _He brought his phone and laptop downstairs again and went back up. He fell onto the bed.

He didn't cry. He just thought. None of his thoughts made sense, and that was just what he needed. Some peace of mind. For a moment, he was completely serene. His hatred for himself and horrible feelings had all gone.

He fell asleep while thinking about absolutely nothing. His head was completely clear, and he was content.

Both of Karkat's parents had gone off to work, and though Karkat would have loved to go out and vent to a friend, he decided to obey his parents. He was tired, and watched some of his favorite movies on the television in the living room.

In the middle of _Crazy Stupid Love, _he heard a thump at the window. Karkat ignored it, thinking it was some stupid bird that didn't know what glass was, but then it came again, steady and even. It was knocking.

Karkat went over to the window and was surprised to see Sollux's face on the other side of the glass. Karkat was almost angry. He went to open the front door, and Sollux strode in.

"Sup, KK." He lisped. He seemed to have washed the dye out of his hair, and he was wearing a plain white tee and black skinny jeans. They were cuffed so that his mismatched socks were visible inside his mismatched shoes.

"Are you a fucking idiot?" Karkat _almost _hollered. "What would you have done if my parents had been home, you dumb piece of lanky shit?" His arms were crossed, and if he had been looking at his own refection, he would have said that he looked liked his mother.

"Hey, calm down, ragestump." Sollux said. "I knew your parents wouldn't be here. Jesus."

"How did you know, Mr. Ein-stud?" This made Sollux smirk.

"Don't underestimate the awesome power of computers, KK." Sollux went into the kitchen and opened the fridge. "What kind of food do you have, I'm starving."

"I'm not hungry. Let's go to my room." Karkat waved Sollux over, and Sollux grabbed a few apples from the fridge before closing it.

"Getting anxious now, are we?" He said with a quirk of the _very finely shaped eyebrows. _Karkat realized how selfish he was being a mumbled a quick apology before ascending the staircase. Sollux followed behind.

Since this was the first time Sollux had been in Karkat's room _not hung over and passed out, _he was curious. He snickered at Karkat's cheesy romcom movie posters, and Karkat swatted at his arm several times.

"Will Smith is a great guy, as well as an amazing actor!" Karkat defended one of his favorite actors, but Sollux still wouldn't stop judging. No judging. Judging hurts.

"Whatever KK, there are plenty o f actors and actresses better than him." Sollux said plainly. "Not that I watch movies or anything."

After a pause, Sollux sighed and pulled Karkat in closer to him, then slowly rocked from side to side. Karkat listened to him breath in and out. Then Karkat stretched his neck and pecked him on the lips.

Sollux did the same to him, and they traded gentle pecks. Then Karkat pressed his lips to Sollux's, and they kissed a while. No words. Just kissing.

When they decided that they were done, Sollux lied down on the bed, and Karkat snuggled into him. They talked about people, talked about assholes, and talked about the future.

"How did you know I was grounded?" Karkat asked, anxious to know how Sollux had known he was grounded.

"Ummm, let's see how it went... Hmm..." Sollux seemed to think a while before he remembered. "Okay, so apparently your juggalo friend told John about it-"

"Why would he tell John of all people?"

"How am I supposed to know? Anyway, he told Rose or whatever about it, she told KN about it and KN told me about it. It was a stupid game of telephone, basically."

Karkat wrapped his arms around Sollux's waist.

"Well I'm glad you're here now." He murmurs into Sollux's chest. "You're fucking great, you know that right?" Sollux ran his fingers through Karkat's hair.

"Of course I know. I can't help being an amazing person."

"Shut up."

Karkat climbed onto Sollux's stomach and took his glasses off. He placed them beside them and rested hid face on Sollux's. Karkat so happily. He had always seen these kind of things in his movies and had always wanted them himself. The cuddles and kisses between the one that he loved. It was happening, and he could hardly believe it.

Of course he had had a lot of other opportunities to date. There was Terezi who Karkat was sure had a crush on him, there was Jade, and John of course, though John had turned him down. Even Feferi seemed like a good choice. But Karkat decided that none of them were perfect for him, and when he had come across Sollux, nobody else had mattered but him, he realized.

"KK, get up for a second." Karkat rolled off of him, and Sollux grabbed an apple and his iPod from his pocket. He gave Karkat and earbud and they listened to Sollux's music. It was mostly electronic, drums and bass, or some Japanese song, and Karkat liked it a lot.

After Sollux had gone through all of his apples, Karkat finally allowed them to go down and get something to eat.

"KK, why is it that Jade is so chubby if she supposedly only eats the stuff from her garden?" Sollux asked in between bites of meat from leftovers found in the fridge.

"John gives her a lot of cake." Karkat replies. "He-" But Karkat was rudely interrupted by the phone. It startled him, and after taking a second to recover, Karkat went to answer it. Well speak of the devil. It was John.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Karkat."

"Hi John. What do you want?" This question seemed to make John hesitate, and he seemed unsure of what he wanted to say when he answered.

"Yeah... Karkat, can we talk about like... Romantic things I guess?" John seemed to be holding his breath.

"Uh, I'm a little busy, but sure." There was a big exhale from the other line. He had been holding his breath.

"Great! So here's the thing... Karkat, I think I have a like Rose a lot, but she and Kanaya seem to be hitting it off..."

So? "So?"

"_So, _I was kind of bummed for a few days, and I talked to Dave about it a lot. And I think he's, uhh... He flirts with me. At least I think he does."

"Okay."

"Yeah, so I want to tell him that I'm not interested in dating him and that I'm not into guys, but what if he isn't actually flirting with me! I don't want him to take it the wrong way..."

"Crap, I would ask you to send me some of your logs or something, but I can't use my computer. Just read some of the things he said out to me. And hurry it up, I don't have all day."

Karkat turned around and saw Sollux just staring at him. He was chewing slowly with his mouth open, and had this soft of amazed look in his eyes. Karkat turned back around, avoiding eye contact.

He listens to John's typing and clicking as he looks for the logs. After a few seconds, an "Okay," comes from the other line.

"Chop chop, Egbert."

"Okay, so I had told Dave about my deal, and he said, 'you should come over to my house and binge eat your problems away'. I said, 'haha, sure dude.' and then he said, 'like they say, the way to a man's dick is through his stomach'."

"John, that wasn't even subtle in any way." It was just like Dave. There was no need for him to be subtle. If there was one thing he could do with sky high confidence, it was flirting.

"John, I think you need to tell him how you feel. Just do it. He's your best fucking friend, and he's also _Dave._"

"I guess you're right!" John answered with enthusiasm. "I knew I could count on you. Also before I leave, I would like to pre-congratulate you on the sex!"

Before Karkat could answer, John hung up. Then Karkat did. He went back into the kitchen and sat in his chair. Sollux had finished eating, and Karkat wasn't hungry anymore.

"We can go back upstairs, I guess."

The two went back into Karkat's room, and Karkat sat on the bed. Sollux took a seat on the floor. They listened to the constant hum of the fan. It was always on over the summer, so it was rarely acknowledged.

"Hey KK?"

"What."

"Do you want to frot?" The question caught Karkat off guard, and he barely knew how to respond. He did, though.

"_What?_"

"I asked if you wanted to frot, dumbass." Sollux lisped. Well fuck.

"This is only our second date, Sollux, and I don't want to take this very far very fast, okay?"

Sollux sighed and rested his head on the bed.

"Can we at least mess around a bit?"

"Sollux, I-_"_

"You know KK, not all of us are virgins!" Sollux snapped, and Karkat was a bit taken aback. Sollux took off his glasses and rubbed his eye.

"I'm sorry. We don't have to do anything you don't want to. Jesus titties I'm an idiot..."

Karkat crossed his arms and huffed.

"I guess we can fool around a little..."

Without a single word of approval or agreement, Sollux leaped up and plopped onto the bed. Karkat rolled his eyes and leaned into him as Sollux wrapped his arms around him. Their lips pressed together.

Sollux did the typical thing and bit Karkat's lip, and when Karkat's lips parted, Sollux's tongue entered his mouth.

They made out passionately, and though Karkat was a bit sloppy, it was the most enjoyable experience of his life.

As they kissed, Sollux slid his hands under Karkat's shirt and ran them up and down his back. Karkat broke the lip lock for a moment to toss Sollux's glasses to the floor, earning a loud throat-clearing from him. Karkat just pulled Sollux back into him and they kissed again.

Sollux then moved his arms down and palmed Karkat's crotch, earning a tiny moan from his partner. The warm feeling in his crotch was getting even hotter. He fingered the waist of Karkat's pants, then began to unbutton them.

Karkat had a look of fear, anxiety, and excitement on his face, and Sollux couldn't get enough of it. He rested his chin on Karkat's shoulder as he pulled Karkat's pants down below his waist. Karkat opened his mouth to say something, but Sollux palmed his crotch again and pressed his lips to Karkat's. Karkat began to grind his crotch against Sollux's hand, his half-erection showing beneath his boxers. Sollux was pretty hard too, but Karkat was the first priority, and he wanted his first time to be memorable and enjoyable.

Sollux pulled down Karkat's boxers, revealing his half-erect cock. Karkat avoided eye contact with Sollux, embarrassed. This was the first time another human being (that wasn't related to him) had seen this much of him, and it was a natural thing.

Sollux enjoyed the way they both weren't exchanging words. They didn't have to. They loved each other and were sharing a very special moment, and that was all that mattered.

Sollux reached up into Karkat's shirt and began to gently massage his nipples with his thumbs. Karkat moaned again, his fists balled up and grabbing the sheets for dear life.

Then, Sollux ran his fingers up and down Karkat's dick, and the contact made it twitch a bit. Sollux grinned a little and got down so that he could put his lips to Karkat's dick. His ran his tongue up and down the length of the member, avoiding the tip entirely at first. Then, he moved his tongue and swirled it all around the tip before taking it into his mouth. Karkat hissed slightly.

Sollux sucked a little, then bobbed his head at a slow pace. His tongue flicked at the tip while it as in his mouth, and Karkat began moving his hips, mimicking Sollux's pace.

Sollux gave a little thumbs up, and Karkat quickened his pace.

After several thrusts, Karkat let out a choke and came into Sollux's mouth, and he choked it down and wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

Karkat was panting, and Sollux sat up, unbuttoning his own pants. Karkat sat up too.

"You you want me to-" But Sollux cut him off by shaking his head.

"I know you're pretty tired, so I'll leave you alone." Sollux said, pulling his boxers enough to reveal his erection.

Karkat watched as he jerked himself off, and just stared in wonder at his face. He was a sucker for facial expressions, and watching Sollux intrigued him.

When he was done, he crawled next to Karkat, and they proceeded to have cozy cuddles. They were so comfortable, and their warmth protected them from the slight chill of the electric fan.

All of Karkat's troubles were temporarily forgotten.

* * *

><p>wow, so that was my first legit sex scene, so i hope it wasn't... uhh... i don't know. but you guys are great, i mean 11 chapters without a sex scene! you guys are hardcore. rock on, perverts.<p> 


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